Nature : Lukas Rieppel

Nature may seem like an unlikely choice for a lexical project devoted to political concepts. This is because it is often defined in terms of the non-human, such as when John Stuart Mill described it as everything “that takes place without the agency… of man.” For many, I suspect the word conjures a mental image of plants, animals, and perhaps even the wilderness. The . . .

Nature : Lukas Rieppel

Nature may seem like an unlikely choice for a lexical project devoted to political concepts. This is because it is often defined in terms of the non-human, such as when John Stuart Mill described it as everything “that takes place without the agency… of man.” For many, I suspect the word conjures a mental image of plants, animals, and perhaps even the wilderness. The . . .

Occupation : Jacques Rancière

Contributing to a lexicon of political terms normally supposes that you take for granted that politics exists per se as a well-established sphere of human activity, so that one should choose either a concept belonging to that sphere or a concept dealing with its foundations, be they ontological, theological, or other. My own contention, however, is that this . . .

Occupation : Jacques Rancière

Contributing to a lexicon of political terms normally supposes that you take for granted that politics exists per se as a well-established sphere of human activity, so that one should choose either a concept belonging to that sphere or a concept dealing with its foundations, be they ontological, theological, or other. My own contention, however, is that this . . .

Parasite : Anders M. Gullestad

From holy to base and comic, and then to degenerate and utterly worthless, fit for nothing but extinction: few examples show the extreme flexibility, adaptability, and changing fortunes of concepts as well as that of the parasite. What’s more, this strange historical trajectory has turned the parasite into a key term for understanding the exclusionary. . .

Parasite : Anders M. Gullestad

From holy to base and comic, and then to degenerate and utterly worthless, fit for nothing but extinction: few examples show the extreme flexibility, adaptability, and changing fortunes of concepts as well as that of the parasite. What’s more, this strange historical trajectory has turned the parasite into a key term for understanding the exclusionary. . .

Poetry : Hannan Hever

Almost any poem may be termed political, if we define political poetry as that which problematizes the authority of the government or any other powerful entity that creates meaning. Lyric poems operating in particular social contexts may be considered political too. The political qualities of a lyric poem that undermine the system of power relationships in which. . .

Poetry : Hannan Hever

Almost any poem may be termed political, if we define political poetry as that which problematizes the authority of the government or any other powerful entity that creates meaning. Lyric poems operating in particular social contexts may be considered political too. The political qualities of a lyric poem that undermine the system of power relationships in which. . .

The Political : Adi Ophir

Half way through his argument in “The Proposition of Equaliberty,” precisely in the middle of the text, Balibar writes: “There will be a permanent tension between the conditions that historically determine the construction of institutions that conform to the proposition of equaliberty and the excessive, hyperbolic universality of the statement. Nevertheless, . . .

The Political : Adi Ophir

Half way through his argument in “The Proposition of Equaliberty,” precisely in the middle of the text, Balibar writes: “There will be a permanent tension between the conditions that historically determine the construction of institutions that conform to the proposition of equaliberty and the excessive, hyperbolic universality of the statement. Nevertheless, . . .

Property : William Keach

For a medievalist, thinking about a political concept for our modernity is at the same time a curse and a moment of revelation. For some, the Middle Ages are just too far away, constituting a radical alterity. 1 Others, like Hans Robert Jauss, view this alterity as an advantage, as something that could beget a new, fresher view on modernity. The Middle Ages . . .

Property : William Keach

For a medievalist, thinking about a political concept for our modernity is at the same time a curse and a moment of revelation. For some, the Middle Ages are just too far away, constituting a radical alterity. 1 Others, like Hans Robert Jauss, view this alterity as an advantage, as something that could beget a new, fresher view on modernity. The Middle Ages . . .

Punishment : Didier Fassin

Is punishment a political concept? Indeed, as a concept, it has been mostly discussed by moral philosophers and legal theorists, who have defended the importance of distinguishing between definition (supposedly value-neutral) and justification (definitely value-laden), between the institution in general (viewed as justified) and the act . . .

Punishment : Didier Fassin

Is punishment a political concept? Indeed, as a concept, it has been mostly discussed by moral philosophers and legal theorists, who have defended the importance of distinguishing between definition (supposedly value-neutral) and justification (definitely value-laden), between the institution in general (viewed as justified) and the act . . .

Reading : John Cayley

The President does not read. This statement, my own, is derived from two articles in the Washington Post and the New York Times that were published before and after the 2016 election, respectively. I might have quoted something like it, out of context, from the title of the Washington Post article, but Trump was not yet president and I would have been pointedly . . .

Reading : John Cayley

The President does not read. This statement, my own, is derived from two articles in the Washington Post and the New York Times that were published before and after the 2016 election, respectively. I might have quoted something like it, out of context, from the title of the Washington Post article, but Trump was not yet president and I would have been pointedly . . .

Reclamation : Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg

In its most common usage today and the one upon which I focus here, reclamation refers to the conversion of wasteland – especially of land previously under water – into land fit for use, cultivation, or construction. I also, however, extend this meaning to broader political and conceptual uses: the reclamation not only of lands but also of a concept. My thinking . . .

Reclamation : Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg

In its most common usage today and the one upon which I focus here, reclamation refers to the conversion of wasteland – especially of land previously under water – into land fit for use, cultivation, or construction. I also, however, extend this meaning to broader political and conceptual uses: the reclamation not only of lands but also of a concept. My thinking . . .

Resilience: Bonnie Honig

Resilience is defined in the OED as the “action or an act of rebounding or springing back; rebound, recoil” or as “Elasticity; the power of resuming an original shape or position after compression, bending, etc.” or as “the work given back by the spring after being strained to the extreme limit within which it can be strained again and again.” The concept “resilience”. . .

Resilience: Bonnie Honig

Resilience is defined in the OED as the “action or an act of rebounding or springing back; rebound, recoil” or as “Elasticity; the power of resuming an original shape or position after compression, bending, etc.” or as “the work given back by the spring after being strained to the extreme limit within which it can be strained again and again.” The concept “resilience”. . .

Revolution : Ariella Azoulay

The judgment “this is revolution” or “this is not revolution”—voiced in various places and times by citizens and, among them, experts on revolution—is derived from the nature of the common concept of revolution. Instead of inviting one to ask what is revolution, it has offered itself for use since the eighteenth century. Thus the study of revolutions is contained. . .

Revolution : Ariella Azoulay

The judgment “this is revolution” or “this is not revolution”—voiced in various places and times by citizens and, among them, experts on revolution—is derived from the nature of the common concept of revolution. Instead of inviting one to ask what is revolution, it has offered itself for use since the eighteenth century. Thus the study of revolutions is contained. . .

Rights : J.M. Bernstein

Étienne Balibar’s political philosophy innovates a complex constellation of concepts aimed at reviving and renewing the great tradition of radical democracy. Equaliberty, citizenship, intensive universality, civility, constituent power, structural violence, insurrection and transformation, and the democratizing of democracy are all plausible candidates for concepts . . .

Rights : J.M. Bernstein

Étienne Balibar’s political philosophy innovates a complex constellation of concepts aimed at reviving and renewing the great tradition of radical democracy. Equaliberty, citizenship, intensive universality, civility, constituent power, structural violence, insurrection and transformation, and the democratizing of democracy are all plausible candidates for concepts . . .

Rule of Law : J.M. Bernstein

Gustav Radbruch twice served as the Minister of Justice for the Social Democratic Party during the Weimar period. The final version of his Legal Philosophy was published in 1932. He went to ground during the Nazi reign of terror, only to resurface in 1946 with an essay entitled “Statutory Lawlessness and Supra-Statutory Law,” that, in response to the gross perversions. . .

Rule of Law : J.M. Bernstein

Gustav Radbruch twice served as the Minister of Justice for the Social Democratic Party during the Weimar period. The final version of his Legal Philosophy was published in 1932. He went to ground during the Nazi reign of terror, only to resurface in 1946 with an essay entitled “Statutory Lawlessness and Supra-Statutory Law,” that, in response to the gross perversions. . .

Sacrifice : Michael Sawyer

The late Chinua Achebe, in his magisterial work of fiction, Things Fall Apart, employs the opening of Yeat’s “Second Coming” as the epigraph and as inspiration for the title to his most well known work of fiction. Yeats writes:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre, The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; To begin this. . .

Sacrifice : Michael Sawyer

The late Chinua Achebe, in his magisterial work of fiction, Things Fall Apart, employs the opening of Yeat’s “Second Coming” as the epigraph and as inspiration for the title to his most well known work of fiction. Yeats writes:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre, The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; To begin this. . .

Sexual Difference : Joan Copjec

In the mid-1970s a global warming began to melt the icy resistance of feminists to psychoanalysis. Yet only a decade later signs of another climate change in the relations between feminism and psychoanalysis were already apparent. Teresa de Lauretis, in her ground-breaking book, Technologies of Gender, articulated the slogan under which the reverse. . .

Sexual Difference : Joan Copjec

In the mid-1970s a global warming began to melt the icy resistance of feminists to psychoanalysis. Yet only a decade later signs of another climate change in the relations between feminism and psychoanalysis were already apparent. Teresa de Lauretis, in her ground-breaking book, Technologies of Gender, articulated the slogan under which the reverse. . .