Author: Antonio Negri File Type: pdf Four men in a cell in Rebibbia prison, Rome, awaiting trial on serious charges of subversion. One of them, the political thinker Antonio Negri, spends his days writing. Among his writings are twenty letters addressed to a young friend in France letters in which Negri reflects on his own personal development as a philosopher, theorist and political activist and analyses the events, activities and movements in which he has been involved. The letters recount an existential journey that links a rigorous philosophical education with a powerful political passion, set against the historical backdrop of postwar Italy. Crucially, Negri recalls the pivotal moment in 1978 when the former prime minister of Italy, Aldo Moro, was kidnapped and killed by the Red Brigades, and how the institutions then pinned that killing onto him and his associates.Published here for the first time, these letters offer a unique and invaluable insight into the factors that shaped the thinking of one of the most influential political theorists of our time and they document Negris role in the development of political movements like Autonomia. They are a vivid testimony to one mans journey through the political upheavals and intellectual traditions of the late 20th century, in the course of which he produced a body of work that has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on radical thought and politics around the world.**
Author: Adam Fergusson
File Type: pdf
Germany in 1914 had one of the worlds most prosperous economies. By 1923 its currency, the Mark, was worth next to nothing. When Money Dies tells the story in stark human terms of what happens when a currency and a national economy perishes.Germany increased the circulation of the Mark to finance a series of staggering war reparations from World War I. The Mark depreciated at an astronomical rate. In November 1921, the Mark was at 250 to the dollar. By the following November, it was at 8,000 to the dollar. By January 1923 it was well over 50,000 to the dollar, and by July of the same year, it was at a whopping 174,000 to the dollar. By the end of 1923, the mark was dead and Germany was in the midst of a raging inflation that was impossible to control.Social misery and crippling economic instability followed. Citizens watched in horror as their life savings disappeared. It didnt take long for the middle class to be replaced by a new class the new poor. Many struggled to find even the barest of necessities, and starvation raged. Soon communities printed their own money, based on goods such as potatoes or rye. Shoe factories paid their workers in bonds for shoes which they could exchange at the bakery for bread or the meat market for meat. As Fergusson describes it In hyperinflation, a kilo of potatoes was worth, to some, more than the family silver a side of pork more than the grand piano. A prostitute in the family was better than an infant corpse theft was preferable to starvation warmth was finer than honor clothing more essential than democracy, food more needed than freedom.People in search of someone to blame picked upon other classes, other races, other political parties, other nations. They were in large measure still blaming not the disease but the symptoms. There was communal hatred, which was new. There was social resentment, which was new. There was bribery and corruption that was new. This was Germany in 1923 a great power at the height of its ambition that produced the greatest national financial disaster in recent history.It could never happen here. Or could it?
Author: Efraim Karsh
File Type: pdf
From the first Arab-Islamic Empire of the mid-seventh century to the Ottomans, the last great Muslim empire, the story of the Middle East has been the story of the rise and fall of universal empires and, no less important, of imperialist dreams. So argues Efraim Karsh in this highly provocative book. Rejecting the conventional Western interpretation of Middle Eastern history as an offshoot of global power politics, Karsh contends that the regions experience is the culmination of long-existing indigenous trends, passions and patterns of behaviour, and that foremost among these is Islams millenarian imperial tradition. The author explores the history of Islams imperialism and the persistence of the Ottoman imperialist dream that outlasted World War I to haunt Islamic and Middle Eastern politics to the present day. September 11 can be seen as simply the latest expression of this dream, and such attacks have little to do with U.S. international behaviour or policy in the Middle East, says Karsh. The House of Islams war for world mastery is traditional, indeed venerable, and it is a quest that is far from over. **
Author: Amanda Behm
File Type: pdf
Examining the rise of the field of imperial history in Britain and wider webs of advocacy, this book demonstrates how intellectuals and politicians promoted settler colonialism, excluded the subject empire, and laid a precarious framework for decolonization. History was politics in late-nineteenth-century Britain. But the means by which influential thinkers sought to steer democracy and state development also consigned vast populations to the margins of imperial debate and policy. From the 1880s onward, politicians, intellectuals, and journalists erected a school of thought based on exclusion and deferral that segregated past and future, backwardness and civilization, validating racial discrimination in empire all while disavowing racism. These efforts, however, engendered powerful anticolonial backlash and cast a long shadow over the closing decades of imperial rule. Bringing to life the forgotten struggles which have, in effect, defined our times, Imperial History and the Global Politics of Exclusion is an important reinterpretation of the intellectual history of the British Empire. hr **From the Back Cover Examining the rise of the field of imperial history in Britain and wider webs of advocacy, this book demonstrates how intellectuals and politicians promoted settler colonialism, excluded the subject empire, and laid a precarious framework for decolonization. History was politics in late-nineteenth-century Britain. But the means by which influential thinkers sought to steer democracy and state development also consigned vast populations to the margins of imperial debate and policy. From the 1880s onward, politicians, intellectuals, and journalists erected a school of thought based on exclusion and deferral that segregated past and future, backwardness and civilization, validating racial discrimination in empire all while disavowing racism. These efforts, however, engendered powerful anticolonial backlash and cast a long shadow over the closing decades of imperial rule. Bringing to life the forgotten struggles which have, in effect, defined our times,Imperial History and the Global Politics of Exclusionis an important reinterpretation of the intellectual history of the British Empire. hr About the Author Amanda Behm is Lecturer in British History at the University of York, UK. She has taught previously at Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley.****
Author: J. G. Fichte
File Type: pdf
The disputes of philosophers provide a place to view their positions and arguments in a tightly focused way, and also in a manner that is infused with human temperaments and passions. Fichte and Schelling had been perceived as partners in the cause of Criticism or transcendental idealism since 1794, but upon Fichte s departure from Jena in 1799, each began to perceive a drift in their fundamental interests and allegiances. Schelling s philosophy of nature seemed to move him toward a realistic philosophy, while Fichte s interests in the origin of personal consciousness, intersubjectivity, and the ultimate determination of the agent s moral will moved him to explore what he called faith in one popular text, or a theory of an intelligible world. This volume brings together the letters the two philosophers exchanged between 1800 and 1802 and the texts that each penned with the other in mind. **Review The book presents an unparalleled opportunity to observe an important set of [Fichte and Schelling s] philosophical exchanges and has the potential to affect one s understanding of post-Kantian philosophy in a lasting way This well-conceived and carefully edited volume shines a bright light on a crucial and formative time in the lives of both Fichte and Schelling. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Vater and Wood have given us a real gift a strong and philosophically provocative edition of this indispensible exchange. A thoughtful and very helpful essay that puts many of the issues into a fresh philosophical perspective precedes the letters, and some of the important primary texts germane to this debate follow them. For lovers of German idealism, this is a text of great interest and its appearance calls for celebration. Jason M. Wirth, author of The Conspiracy of Life Meditations on Schelling and His Time Michael G. Vater and David W. Wood s volume amounts to an immeasurable service for the English-speaking world. Clio The book presents an unparalleled opportunity to observe an important set of [Fichte and Schelling s] philosophical exchanges and has the potential to affect one s understanding of post-Kantian philosophy in a lasting way This well-conceived and carefully edited volume shines a bright light on a crucial and formative time in the lives of both Fichte and Schelling. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Vater and Wood have given us a real gift a strong and philosophically provocative edition of this indispensible exchange. A thoughtful and very helpful essay that puts many of the issues into a fresh philosophical perspective precedes the letters, and some of the important primary texts germane to this debate follow them. For lovers of German idealism, this is a text of great interest and its appearance calls for celebration. Jason M. Wirth, author of The Conspiracy of Life Meditations on Schelling and His Time About the Author Michael G. Vater is Associate Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Marquette University. He translated and edited Schelling s Bruno or On the Natural and Divine Principle of Things, also published by SUNY Press. David W. Wood is a postdoctoral researcher at the Fichte Commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany. He translated and edited Novalis s Notes for a Romantic Encyclopaedia Das Allgemeine Brouillon, also published by SUNY Press.
Author: Rosi Braidotti
File Type: pdf
This book addresses contemporary philosophical issues in higher education and how we can create socially just pedagogies and a socially just university. Providing a forum for thinking through how critical posthumanism, affect theory and feminist new materialisms provide a useful lens for higher education, and shows how these standpoints can benefit methods and practices of learning and teaching. Gross inequalities in higher education continue to affect pedagogical practices across geopolitical contexts and there is a need to consider new theories which call into question the commonplace humanist assumptions currently dominating the discourse around social justice in this context. However scholarship on the affective turn, critical posthumanism and new material feminisms, opens both new possibilities and responsibilities for higher education pedagogies. The approaches of this book also provide imaginative ways of engaging with current dissatisfactions with higher education, from the marketization of education, to issues of racism, discrimination and lack of diversity. Of international relevance, this collection particularly foreground southern contexts and case studies, such as the student activism in South African universities that has sparked a global project of decolonization and social justice in educational institutions. This book is an urgent call to reconceptualize, rethink and reconfigure pedagogies in higher education and the implications for future citizenship and social participation. **Review Continuing the most exciting and challenging histories of engaged feminist thought, the chapters in Socially Just Pedagogies grapple with the lived histories of inequality-structured by race, gender, sexuality, coloniality, and age-and use specific sites of educational struggle as occasions to test and transform the ways we understand materiality, subjectivity, and most importantly the social. Without ever losing touch with the intra-human violences that structure global relations, the authors forcefully re-imagine pedagogy as always more-than-human. This incredible book makes the case that feminist education is constitutively materialist and nonhumanist, and that new materialist politics are inescapably pedagogical. -- Nathan Snaza, Director, Bridge to Success Program, Department of English, University of Richmond, USA A strong case for the theoretical input of posthuman and affect theory, this is new to the field of educational studies and is much needed. The authors have produced a fine piece of work. This should be a big player in the critical educational literature. -- Dan Goodley, Professor of Disability Studies and Education, University of Sheffield, UK Its about time we had a book like this, that tackles educations unswerving adherence to outdated 20th century humanist premises. The most apparent strength is the editors (and contributors) strong grasp on the posthumanist, affective and new materialist theoretical perspectives that frame this collection. The emphasis on southern perspectives is very refreshing and will make a unique contribution to the broader posthumanist educational field, which is dominated by global north theorists and research. Particularly interesting because it also documents the recent student activism in South African universities, these challenges to the humanist norms of educational practice are overdue. This book is one of the first ones to make the challenges - others will follow. -- Affrica Taylor, Associate Professor of Geographies of Education and Childhood, University of Canberra, Australia About the Author Vivienne Bozalek is Professor of Social Work and the Director of Teaching and Learning at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Rosi Braidotti is Distinguished University Professor and founding Director of the Centre for the Humanities at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Tamara Shefer is Professor of Womens and Gender Studies and currently Deputy Dean of Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Arts at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Michalinos Zembylas is Professor of Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies at the Open University of Cyprus.
Author: Peter Dauvergne
File Type: pdf
The first Handbook of original articles by leading scholars of global environmental politics, this landmark volume maps the latest theoretical and empirical research in this young and growing field. Captured here are the dynamic and energetic debates over concerns for the health of the planet and how they might best be addressed. The introductory chapters explore the intellectual trends and evolving parameters in the field of global environmental politics. They make a case for an expansive definition of the field, one that embraces an interdisciplinary literature on the connections between global politics and environmental change. The remaining chapters are divided into three broad themes - states, governance and security capitalism, trade and corporations and knowledge, civil societies and ethics - with each section providing a cohesive discussion of current issues. In-depth explorations are given to topics such as global commons, renewable energy, the effectiveness of environmental cooperation, regulations and corporate standards, trade liberalization and global environmental governance, and science and environmental citizenship. A comprehensive survey of the latest research, the handbook is a necessary reference for scholars, students and policymakers in the field of global environmental politics.ReviewThe books greatest strength is the range and theoretical ambition of its contributions to regime theory, governance, and international cooperation... Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, and faculty. - D.L. Feldman, Choice About the AuthorEdited by Peter Dauvergne, Canada Research Chair in Global Environmental Politics, University of British Columbia, Canada
Author: Monika Class
File Type: pdf
Author of Biographia Literaria (1817) and The Friend (1809-10, 1812 and 1818), Samuel Taylor Coleridge was the central figure in the British transmission of German idealism in the 19th century. The advent of Immanuel Kant in Coleridges thought is traditionally seen as the start of the poets turn towards an internalized Romanticism. Demonstrating that Coleridges discovery of Kant came at an earlier point than has been previously recognized, this book examines the historical roots of Coleridges life-long preoccupation with Kant over a period of 20 years from the first extant Kant entry until the publication of his autobiography. Drawing on previously unpublished contemporary reviews of Kant and seeking socio-political meaning outside the literary canon in the English radical circles of the 1790s, Monika Class here establishes conceptual affinities between Coleridges writings and that of Kants earliest English mediators and in doing so revises Coleridges allegedly non-political and solitary response to Kant. **
Author: Robert M. S. McDonald
File Type: pdf
Whether acting as a military officer or civilian officeholder, George Washington did not possess a reputation for glad handing, easy confidences, or even much warmth. His greatest attributes as a commander might well have been his firm command over his own emotions and the way in which he held himself above if not apart from the men he led. Understanding the full range of Washingtons leadership, which embraced all shades of persuasion and coercion as well as multiple modes of command and solicitude, requires the examination of his influence on the lives, careers, and characters of the members of a diverse fraternity of younger men. In Sons of the Father, leading scholars analyze Washingtons relationships with men such as Daniel Morgan, Anthony Wayne, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Henry Knox, Nathanael Greene, Gouverneur Morris, Alexander Hamilton, and the Marquis de Lafayette. The men on whom this volume focuses were not all his closest associates. Yet all are important figures in that their interactions with Washington provide glimpses into various aspects of his capacities for management, motivation, control, and the cultivation of talent. The essays in this volume demonstrate Washingtons consistency in treating all these men differently, for different reasons, at different times. It was perhaps part of his genius to recognize the individuality of the men with whom he interacted as well as the shifting requirements of changing circumstances. Contributors Fred Anderson (University of Colorado, Boulder) * Theodore J. Crackel (University of Virginia) * William M. Ferraro (University of Virginia) * Jack P. Greene (Johns Hopkins University) * John W. Hall (University of WisconsinMadison) * Peter R. Henriques (George Mason University) * Mary-Jo Kline (University of Virginia) * Stuart Leibiger (La Salle University) * L. Scott Philyaw (Western Carolina University) * Thomas Rider (United States Military Academy) * Brian Steele (University of Alabama at Birmingham) * Mary Stockwell (Louisiana State University Shreveport) * Mark Thompson (University of North Carolina at Pembroke) **