Unstable Universalities: Poststructuralism and Radical Politics

by Saul Newman

Unstable Universalities examines the theme of universality and its place in radical political theory. Saul Newman argues that both Marxist politics of class struggle and the postmodern politics of difference have reached their historical and political limits--what is needed is a new approach to universality and collective politics. By exploring various ideas within poststructuralist and post-Marxist theory, the book develops a new and original approach to universality. In so doing, it engages in debates with thinkers such as Laclau, Žižek, Badiou, and Rancière over the future of radical politics. It also applies important theoretical insights to contemporary events such as the emergence of the anti-globalization movement, the "war on terrorism," the rise of anti-immigrant racism, and the nihilistic violence which lurks at the margins of the political.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 21, 2007

About the author

Newman coined the term "post-anarchism" as a general term for political philosophies filtering 19th century anarchism through a post-structuralist lens, and later popularized it through his 2001 book From Bakunin to Lacan. Thus he rejects a number of concepts traditionally associated with anarchism, including essentialism, a "positive" human nature, and the concept of revolution. The links between poststructuralism and anarchism have also been developed by thinkers like Todd May and Lewis Call.
Newman is currently Reader in Political Theory at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He received his B.A. from the University of Sydney, and his Ph.D in political science from the University of New South Wales. His work has been translated into Turkish, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese and Serbo-Croatian, and has been the subject of a number of debates amongst anarchist theorists and activists as well as academics.[I]

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book surveying the issues faced by current anarchist and postmodernist/poststructuralist thought. The author seeks to find a viable combination of the two (ie, Post-Anarchism) as a means to create necesary revolutionary change in the world. It is a very difficult read, of which I can only take in small doses.

[Levi · Rating 2 out of 5]

great review on post-structuralist theory; kind of fell short on the ambitious goal to create a political framework based on Lyotard's differend, among other similar concepts; lofty but vague poststructuralist ramblings; i was expecting more