Technologies of (in)security: Masculinity and the complexity of neoliberalism

Although there is much feminist work that has examined the intersection of gender and neoliberalism, critical work on men and masculinities remains underdeveloped in this area. This article suggests that complexity theory is a crucial resource for a critical analysis of the ways in which masculinities contribute to the ongoing maintenance of neoliberal socio-economic systems. Critical work on neoliberalism and capitalist economics has recently been drawn to complex systems theory, as evidenced by the work of scholars such as Sylvia Walby, William Connolly and Brian Massumi. Their work produces important insights into neoliberalism, but does not develop a sustained reflection on the place of men and masculinities in this domain. In order to develop a critical account of the relation of masculinity to complexity, the article draws on the work of Judith Butler and Bonnie Mann. It suggests that Butler’s theorising on precariousness contains important resources for understanding how hegemonic masculinities are positioned in relation to the complexity of neoliberal systems, as illustrated in Mann’s concept of ‘sovereign masculinity’. Finally, drawing on two different examples of the enactment of masculinities in neoliberal contexts, the article argues that hegemonic forms of masculinity can be understood as technologies for the amelioration of the complexities and insecurities generated by neoliberal markets.

Agonism, Democracy, and the Moral Equality of Voice

Agonism emerged three decades ago as an assault on the overemphasis in political theory on justice and consensus. It has now become the norm. But its character and relation to core values of democracy are not as unproblematic today as is often thought, an issue that becomes more pressing as contemporary politics increasingly seem locked into notions of unrelenting conflict between “friends” and “enemies.” This essay traces alternative ontological roots and ethical implications of agonism, distinguishing between “imperializing” and “tempered” modes. The former, exemplified in the popular Schmitt-Mouffe formulation, is shown to be fundamentally flawed in its failure to conceive politics in a fashion that does not allow the dynamic of friend–enemy to imperially trump appeals to democratic norms. In a world of insurgent white nationalism in democratic polities, this is no small fault. “Tempered” agonists, such as William Connolly and Bonnie Honig, offer ontologies where democratic norms can gain traction. Despite the admirable qualities of these alternatives, their formulations are nevertheless not fully persuasive. The difficulty lies in their underarticulated accounts of equality. I suggest an alternative formulation of agonism that embraces a central role for the idea of the moral equality of voice, a value that resides in the seam between notions of difference, resistance, and conflict emphasized by agonists, on the one hand, and the idea of fairness emphasized by notions of democratic justice, on the other.

Laisser aller e respeito agonístico: considerações sobre as apropriações agonísticas da filosofia de Nietzsche

Neste artigo analisamos o uso que os teóricos agonísticos da democracia tem feito da filosofia de Nietzsche com foco em uma de suas principais proposições normativas: a ideia de “respeito agonístico”. Na primeira seção apresentamos características gerais da apropriação da filosofia de Nietzsche pelos teóricos agonísticos da democracia. Na segunda seção apresentamos o que William Connolly e Lawrence Hatab entendem por “respeito agonístico” e “respeito democrático”. Na terceira seção criticamos estas apropriações da filosofia de Nietzsche a partir de textos do próprio Nietzsche, apontando alguns limites da noção de respeito agonístico e sustentando que estes teóricos utilizam Nietzsche para promover uma ética do laisser aller que foi duramente criticada por ele.

Agonale Demokratie und Staat

This volume presents new perspectives on how an agonistic understanding of politics, which emphasises disagreement and conflict, can be made fruitful for debates on state theory. It deals with the theories by Chantal Mouffe, Ernesto Laclau, Bonnie Honig, William Connolly, James Tully and other theorists who advocate an agonistic understanding of politics. The volume discusses parliament, parties, political representation, the demos, law, the constitution and science. In addition, it shows what it means to understand stabilised social practices and discourses as institutions. The volume is aimed at students and teachers in higher education as well as researchers who are interested in the further developments of agonistic democratic theory. With contributions by Christoph Held, Steffen Herrmann, Dirk Jörke, Oliver Lembcke, Miriam Malte, Franziska Martinsen, Danny Michelsen, Milos Rodatos, Luzia Sievi, Rieke Trimҫev, Stefan Wallaschek, Manon Westphal and Gabriele Wilde.

Δημόσια σφαίρα και θρησκευτικό επιχείρημα στο πλαίσιο της μετακοσμικής κοινωνίας

Το κείμενο επιδιώκει την ανακατασκευή της προβληματικής της θέσης του θρησκευτικού επιχειρήματος στη δημόσια σφαίρα στο πλαίσιο της μετακοσμικής κοινωνίας. Ανατρέχοντας στη σκέψη των John Rawls, Charles Taylor, Jürgen Habermas και William Connolly, θα επιδιώξω την ανασυγκρότηση των πολλαπλών και πολυσύνθετων διαστάσεων της θέσης του θρησκευτικού επιχειρήματος στη μετακοσμική δημόσια σφαίρα με άξονα τη συνθήκη του πλουραλισμού από την οποία χαρακτηρίζονται οι νεωτερικές κοσμικές κοινωνίες. Το κείμενο κλείνει με την κριτική ανασύνθεση της προβληματικής στη σκέψη των Taylor και Connolly αναδεικνύοντας παράλληλα τη σημασία που έχει η διάσταση της διυποκειμενικής εγκυρότητας των διαβουλεύσεων στη δημόσια σφαίρα μέσα από μια κριτική προσέγγιση της θεώρησης του Habermas. Λέξεις κλειδιά: Δημόσια σφαίρα, θρησκευτικό επιχείρημα, μετακοσμική κοινωνία, πλουραλισμός. Abstract This paper addresses the question of the role of religious argument in the post-secular public sphere in the thought of John Rawls, Charles Taylor, Jürgen Habermas and William Connolly. In order to highlight the complex and multiple dimensions of this subject, I will focus on the importance of pluralism as the mediating concept between religious argumentation and the public sphere. In the concluding section of the paper I will provide a constructive criticism of Taylor’s and Connolly’s arguments and I will defend Habermas’s reconstruction of the intersubjective validity of deliberations in the post-secular public sphere through a critical account of his thought. Keywords: Public sphere, religious argument, post-secular society, pluralism.

Risky Business: Accidental Encounters in Heather McHugh’s Poems

Facing a world of mutually impinging processes, of which climate and economic systems are only the most worrisome, critics in several disciplines suggest that human actors reimagine our inevitable implication in plural, shifting, evolving networks. Steve Mentz suggests a model of buoyancy, a self-imagination in which we maneuver as swimmers might in seas immeasurably larger than ourselves. William Connolly develops a notion of “vitality,” understood as responsiveness to moments of transformation that exceed our conscious designs. Both suggest that dreams of mastery blind us to crosscurrents in enduring and evolving systems. Heather McHugh’s poems invite us to read not for the solace of masterable meaning but for the chance and risk of aleatory encounter and its unpredictable elaboration. Even in elegy, traditionally poetry’s moment of discursive mastery, her poems give full play to discontinuity and difference as the conditions of reading—not least the discontinuities in a historical and evolving language. Beyond elegy, McHugh’s poems invite the reading of generative accidents, a practice that has analogues in reading a plural and uncertain world.

Re-Enchanting Political Theology

For this Special Issue which confronts the ways in which the question of pluralism represents both haunting and promise within modern political theology, I explore the presence of pluralism in the context of the environmental crisis and religious responses to issues such as climate change. Following Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm, I suggest that models of disenchantment are misleading—to quote Latour, “we have never been modern.” In engagement with a range of neo-vitalist scholars of enchantment including Rosi Braidotti, Karen Barad, Isabelle Stengers, Jane Bennett and William Connolly, I explore the possibility of a kind of critical-theory cosmopolitics around the concept of “enchantment” as a possible site for multi-religious political theology collaborations and argue that this is a promising post-secular frame for the establishment of cosmopolitical collaborations across quite profound kinds of difference.

Habermas, Taylor, and Connolly on Secularism, Pluralism, and the Post-Secular Public Sphere

The main purpose of this paper is to explore and understand the relationships between secularism, pluralism, and the post-secular public sphere in the thought of Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and William Connolly. The three authors develop a thorough critique of secularism which implies a radical break with the dogmatic idea of removing religion from the public sphere. My main objective is to show that this critique is related to a normative understanding of our post-secular situation and requires a rethinking of the boundaries of the public sphere in relation to the predicament of pluralism. Arguing against the post-metaphysical conception of secularism, Taylor develops a critique of Habermas’s “institutional translation proviso”, and Connolly stresses the agonistic dimension of the post-secular public sphere. I take these criticisms into account, while arguing that Taylor and Connolly are unable to provide a sound basis for the legitimacy of our institutional settings. In contrast to Taylor and Connolly, I propose a reading of Habermas’s theory based on the internal relationship between universal justification and the everyday contexts of pre-political solidarity. I conclude with a focus on the need to take into account the agonistic dimension of the post-secular public sphere.