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What Is The State For?
Can the nation-state serve social justice? Should social movements work inside or outside the state? What would a just state look like, and how can we get there?
Leading a forum in the latest issue of Boston Review, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò identifies fossil capital as the principal obstacle to a more just world. We face an uphill battle against carbon’s capture of the state system, he argues, but state politics remains our best path forward. Respondents—Thea Riofrancos, Mariame Kaba & Andrea Ritchie, Ishac Diwan & Bright Simons, Martin O’Neill & Joe Guinan, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Claudio Lomnitz, and Tara Raghuveer—explore the strategies, possibilities, and limitations of efforts to address the climate crisis and transform the state in the image of justice.
Elsewhere in the issue, Leila Farsakh examines the history and fate of the quest for Palestinian statehood, while Joshua Craze reports on the global rise of militias that vie for power with the states that created them. Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix make the case for a “solidarity state” premised on participation, parity, pluralism, and peace. Janice Fine and Hana Shepherd take us inside a compelling new model of labor law enforcement that is reshaping state and local governments across the country. And Bonnie Tenneriello documents the way prisons neutralize reform, following hard-won legislation to end solitary confinement that has done no such thing.
Plus, Richard Pithouse talks with S’bu Zikode, leader of the Abahlali baseMjondolo movement, about how South Africa’s poorest citizens are doing thirty years after apartheid; Jonathan S. Blake reviews recent books by Philip Pettit, Charles S. Maier, and Natasha Wheatley; and Peter E. Gordon traces the rise and fall of theory’s engagement with “real questions of suffering and social transformation.”
Leading a forum in the latest issue of Boston Review, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò identifies fossil capital as the principal obstacle to a more just world. We face an uphill battle against carbon’s capture of the state system, he argues, but state politics remains our best path forward. Respondents—Thea Riofrancos, Mariame Kaba & Andrea Ritchie, Ishac Diwan & Bright Simons, Martin O’Neill & Joe Guinan, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Claudio Lomnitz, and Tara Raghuveer—explore the strategies, possibilities, and limitations of efforts to address the climate crisis and transform the state in the image of justice.
Elsewhere in the issue, Leila Farsakh examines the history and fate of the quest for Palestinian statehood, while Joshua Craze reports on the global rise of militias that vie for power with the states that created them. Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix make the case for a “solidarity state” premised on participation, parity, pluralism, and peace. Janice Fine and Hana Shepherd take us inside a compelling new model of labor law enforcement that is reshaping state and local governments across the country. And Bonnie Tenneriello documents the way prisons neutralize reform, following hard-won legislation to end solitary confinement that has done no such thing.
Plus, Richard Pithouse talks with S’bu Zikode, leader of the Abahlali baseMjondolo movement, about how South Africa’s poorest citizens are doing thirty years after apartheid; Jonathan S. Blake reviews recent books by Philip Pettit, Charles S. Maier, and Natasha Wheatley; and Peter E. Gordon traces the rise and fall of theory’s engagement with “real questions of suffering and social transformation.”
196 pages, Paperback
Published July 2, 2024
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About the author
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
10 books258 followersDr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He completed his Ph.D. at University of California, Los Angeles. Before that, he completed BAs in Philosophy and Political Science at Indiana University.
His theoretical work draws liberally from German transcendental philosophy, contemporary philosophy of language, contemporary social science, histories of activism and activist thinkers, and the Black radical tradition. He is currently writing a book entitled Reconsidering Reparations that considers a novel philosophical argument for reparations and explores links with environmental justice. He also is committed to public engagement and is publishing articles in popular outlets with general readership (e.g. Slate, Pacific Standard) exploring intersections between climate justice and colonialism.
His theoretical work draws liberally from German transcendental philosophy, contemporary philosophy of language, contemporary social science, histories of activism and activist thinkers, and the Black radical tradition. He is currently writing a book entitled Reconsidering Reparations that considers a novel philosophical argument for reparations and explores links with environmental justice. He also is committed to public engagement and is publishing articles in popular outlets with general readership (e.g. Slate, Pacific Standard) exploring intersections between climate justice and colonialism.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 16, 2024
Some of the essays were definitely better than others, but this book really scratched the poli sci mental itch that’s been in my brain for the past few months. Would def read more from the BR
Displaying 1 of 1 review