This chapter presents an overview of Dipesh Chakrabarty’s contribution to political thinking that is concerned with the human condition in the age of climate change. The chapter examines Chakrabarty’s argument that human-centred ways of thinking about the world and humanity are no longer appropriate. Moreover, Chakrabarty makes the case for bringing together natural and human history; for humans having become a geological force upon the planet; for capitalism having only a limited role in climate change; and for a new focus on planetary history, not merely human history. This chapter presents, Chakrabarty as a postcolonial historian and political thinker and then examines his conceptualization of the Anthropocene as a new historical and planetary era. This chapter further explores the complex connections between freedom, capitalism, and climate change. Chakrabarty insists the era of climate change needs new political perspectives beyond critiques of capitalism, colonialism, and globalization.
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37. Dipesh Chakrabarty
Eva-Maria Nag
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24. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Nikita Dhawan
This chapter examines the works of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, who is known for her contribution to postcolonial studies, revolving around gender justice, human rights, and democracy. Spivak criticizes the Eurocentric and male-centric nature and exclusionary framings of political subjectivity. The chapter explains how colonialism revolves around military domination, economic exploitation, and subject constitution, thus explaining that decolonization cannot be achieved simply through transferring power from Europeans to the native elites. Spivak offers a countermodel of individual and collective agency which enhances our understanding of normativity in the era of globalization. The chapter also covers the relation between the European Enlightenment and the postcolonial condition while exploring Spivak’s contribution to the process of decolonizing the Enlightenment. It considers the concept of planetary ethics, which entails forsaking formulas for solving global problems and critical self-vigilance on the part of transnational elites as significant aspects of ethico-political practice.
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28. Frantz Fanon
Keally Mcbride
This chapter offers a brief account of Frantz Fanon’s life and experiences, which provided the material for his analysis of the psychology of racialized colonialism. The chapter investigates his account of the psychology of race and gender with in a world where such categories operate to organize privileges. Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1962) examines the violence of colonization and decolonization, especially with respect to the use of revolutionary violence and the struggles of transforming liberation movements into long-lasting regimes providing freedom. Moreover, Fanon’s prediction of the systemic dysfunctions of postcolonial regimes provides valuable tools for analysing contemporary global politics. The chapter also acknowledges Fanon’s ultimate message that overcoming oppression means accepting collective responsibility for making and remaking the world, regardless of conditions.
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10. Global Poverty
Zofia Stemplowska
This chapter examines the problem of global poverty. There is widespread extreme global poverty. There is also global affluence, which raises the question of what, if any, duties affluent individuals and institutions of that group have in relation to those in poverty. One of the most powerful arguments in support of the idea that there is a duty to aid that holds between individuals across the globe comes from philosopher Peter Singer. Singer thinks we should accept that we must rescue people at least when doing so does not require us to sacrifice anything of comparable significance. It may be that the only way to eradicate extreme global poverty is through a large-scale institutional change that will involve radically changing domestic, transnational, and international institutions. However, smaller-scale institutional change, such as that achieved through foreign aid, may help.
Book
Jonathan Wolff
An Introduction to Political Philosophy provides and introduction to the subject, combining clarity and a conversational style with a thought-provoking account of the central questions of the discipline. The text explores the subject through a series of enduring and timeless questions, jumping centuries and millennia to explore the most influential answers and demonstrate the relevance of political philosophy for an understanding of contemporary issues. This new edition has been updated to include the on-going developments in multiculturalism and global justice, as well as in human rights and deliberative democracy.
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1. Introduction to ideology
Contesting the nature of the ‘good society’
Paul Wetherly
This chapter explains what ideology is, why ideology is seen as a ‘contested concept’, and what roles ideology plays in politics and society. In particular, it analyses the basic conception of ideology as a system of ideas involving a vision of the good society, a critique of existing society, and a notion of political action. It examines the relationship between ideology, politics, and policy; negative perceptions of ideology prevalent in political discourse; the idea that we are all ideologists; the components or building blocks of a basic conception of ideology; and the Marxist understanding of ‘ideology’ as false or misleading ideas. The chapter also considers whether there is an independent vantage point from which to assess the claims of rival ideologies. It concludes by reflecting on the problem of relativism and the link between ideology and globalization.
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13. Beyond ideology?
Paul Wetherly
This chapter examines conceptions of human nature and ideological responses to globalization. It begins with a discussion of the two reasons for the persistence of ideological dispute regarding human nature. First, ideologies differ in their views of human nature, and these differences continue to generate competing visions of the good society consistent with this nature. Second, disagreement about the good society might be built into human nature. The chapter considers the different ideological conceptions of human nature and the implications of globalization for existing political ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism, feminism, environmentalism, multiculturalism, and religious fundamentalism. It also explores a range of arguments that suggest the possibility of resolving or ending ideological debate, asking whether it is possible to show the failure of a particular ideology, whether there can be a non-ideological way of doing politics, or whether there could there be an end of ideology.
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6. Nationalism
Mark Langan
This chapter examines the key ideas and concepts of nationalism as ideology. It first defines nationalism and considers how the nation is socially constructed as an imagined community. It then analyses the practical implications of nationalist ideology in terms of the functioning of the nation-state (and of nationalist political parties). It also looks at the ‘rational’ form of nationalism (that is, the civic variety) and its ‘sticky’ connections to liberalism and socialism; the link between nationalism and politics; and the relationship between nationalism and globalization. The rational and somewhat pragmatic nationalism is compared with the ‘irrational’ and emotional variant found within both conservatism and fascism. The chapter concludes by highlighting key lessons regarding nationalism as ideology. Case studies relating to Scottish national identity, Brexit, Chinese nationalism, and ethnic nationalism in Russia are presented.
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6. Justice for Everyone, Everywhere?
This chapter examines some issues that have come to greater attention in more recent decades, with particular emphasis on what it calls ‘oversights’ of justice. It begins by arguing that some of the greatest political philosophers had suffered from ‘oversights’, notably Karl Marx, Mary Wollstonecraft, and John Stuart Mill. It then considers some of these oversights of justice, first by looking at issues of gender equality, then at racial justice, followed by issues of disability and sexual orientation, each from the standpoint of what is known as ‘domestic justice’: justice as it operates within a single state. It also explores questions of global justice, including immigration, and global inequalities of wealth, along with justice to future generations, especially in relation to climate change. These discussions reflect areas of great contemporary concern, both in political philosophy and in real life.
Chapter
6. Justice for Everyone, Everywhere?
This chapter examines some issues that have come to greater attention in more recent decades, with particular emphasis on what it calls ‘oversights’ of justice. It begins by arguing that some of the greatest political philosophers suffered from ‘oversights’, notably Karl Marx, Mary Wollstonecraft, and John Stuart Mill. It then considers some of these oversights of justice, first by looking at issues of gender equality, then at racial justice, followed by issues of disability and sexual orientation, each from the standpoint of what is known as ‘domestic justice’: justice as it operates within a single state. It also explores questions of global justice, including immigration, and global inequalities of wealth, along with justice to future generations, especially in relation to climate change. These discussions reflect areas of great contemporary concern, both in political philosophy and in real life.
Book
Jonathan Wolff
An Introduction to Political Philosophy provides an introduction to the subject, combining clarity and a conversational style with a thought-provoking account of the central questions of the discipline. It explores the subject through a series of enduring and timeless questions, crossing centuries and millennia to consider the most influential answers and demonstrate the relevance of political philosophy for an understanding of contemporary issues. This new edition has been updated to include on-going developments in multiculturalism and global justice, as well as in human rights and deliberative democracy.
Book
Catriona McKinnon, Robert Jubb, and Patrick Tomlin
Issues in Political Theory provides an introduction to political theory and how it is applied to address the most important issues confronting the world today. It has a focus on real-world issues and includes case studies. The text examines important and influential areas of political theory. The text includes chapters on liberty, global poverty, sovereignty and borders, and the environment provide readers with fresh insight on important debates in political theory. Case studies in this text look at contemporary issues including same-sex marriage, racial inequality, sweatshop labour, and Brexit.
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11. Green Perspectives And International Relations
This chapter explains how environmental issues affect international relations (IR). Despite early Western influences being predominantly national in focus, the prominence of environmental issues surged significantly as intellectual and public concern about global environmental degradation increased. The chapter distinguishes the key philosophical differences between varieties of green thinking, which have more recently shifted to the international sphere. There are several key themes or theories within contemporary green perspectives on international politics and these include: the green international political economy, global environmental justice, the ecocentric world order, and Anthropocene. The chapter then presents the emergence and political components of Robert Goodin's green political theory and the notion of a green international political economy.
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9. Postcolonialism And International Relations
This chapter introduces the concepts of postcolonialism and international relations (IR) to the debate. Postcolonialism revolves around colonialism and its complex legacy in contemporary global politics. The chapter traces the history of imperialism and colonialism to show how the concept of race emerges from the processes of colonization and how racism becomes endemic to the practices of imperial control and colonization. It also considers the interplay between Eurocentrism and racism and the decolonial approaches which seek to expose and challenge colonialist assumptions which still underpin much of contemporary IR thinking. Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and Homi K. Bhabha are some of the most notable contributors to the emergence and development of contemporary postcolonial thought.
