Political Uses of Utopia

Utopia has long been banished from political theory, framed as an impossible-and possibly dangerous-political ideal, a flawed social blueprint, or a thought experiment without any practical import. Even the "realistic utopias" of liberal theory strike many as wishful thinking. Can politics think utopia otherwise? Can utopian thinking contribute to the renewal of politics?In Political Uses of Utopia, an international cast of leading and emerging theorists agree that the uses of utopia for politics are multiple and nuanced and lie somewhere between-or, better yet, beyond-the mainstream caution against it and the conviction that another, better world ought to be possible. Representing a range of perspectives on the grand tradition of Western utopianism, which extends back half a millennium and perhaps as far as Plato, these essays are united in their interest in the relevance of utopianism to specific historical and contemporary political contexts. Featuring contributions from Miguel Abensour, Étienne Balibar, Raymond Geuss, and Jacques Rancière, among others, Political Uses of Utopia reopens the question of whether and how utopianism can inform political thinking and action today.

Introduction: Utopia and Politics, by James D. IngramPart I. Reviving Utopia1. The History of Utopia and the Destiny of Its Critique, by Miguel Abensour2. Is the Classic Concept of Utopia Ready for the Future?, by Richard Saage3. Utopia and Natural Illusions, by Francisco Fernández BueyPart II. Questioning Utopia4. Marx and Utopia, by Franck Fischbach5. General Wish or General Will? Political Possibility and Collective Capacity from Rousseau Through Marx, by Peter Hallward6. After Utopia, Imagination?, by Étienne Balibar7. A Strange Fate for Politics: Jameson's Dialectic of Utopian Thought, by John GrantPart III. Utopia and Radical Politics8. The Reality of Utopia, by Michèle Riot-Sarcey9. Negativity and Utopia in the Global Justice Movement, by Michaël Löwy10. Utopianism and Prefiguration, by Ruth KinnaPart IV. Permanence of Utopia11. The Senses and Uses of Utopia, by Jacques Rancière12. Realism, Wishful Thinking, Utopia, by Raymond Geuss13. Desire and Shipwreck: Powers of the Vis Utopica, by Étienne TassinCoda14. Utopia, Alibi, by S. D. ChrostowskaList of ContributorsIndex