After Sovereignty addresses the vexed question of sovereignty in contemporary social, political, and legal theory. The emergence, and now apparent implosion, of international capital exceeding the borders of known political entities, the continued expansion of a potentially endless 'War on Terror', the often predicted, but still uncertain, establishment of either a new international American Empire or a new era of International Law, the proliferation of social and political struggles among stateless refugees, migrant workers, and partial citizens, the resurgence of religion as a dominant source of political identification among people all over the globe -- these developments and others have thrown into crisis the modern concept of sovereignty, and the notions of statehood and citizenship that rest upon it. Drawing on classical sources and more contemporary speculations, and developing a range of arguments concerning the possibility of political beginnings in the current moment, the papers collected in After Sovereignty contribute to a renewed interest in the problem of sovereignty in theoretical and political debate.They also provide a multitude of resources for the urgent, if necessarily fractured and diffuse, effort to reconfigure sovereignty today. Whilst it has regularly been suggested that the sovereignty of the nation-state is in crisis, the exact reasons for, and exact implications of, this crisis have rarely been so intensively examined.

After Sovereignty addresses the vexed question of sovereignty in contemporary social, political, and legal theory. The emergence, and now apparent implosion, of international capital exceeding the borders of known political entities, the continued expansion of a potentially endless 'War on Terror', the often predicted, but still uncertain, establishment of either a new international American Empire or a new era of International Law, the proliferation of social and political struggles among stateless refugees, migrant workers, and partial citizens, the resurgence of religion as a dominant source of political identification among people all over the globe - these developments and others have thrown into crisis the modern concept of sovereignty, and the notions of statehood and citizenship that rest upon it.

Drawing on classical sources and more contemporary speculations, and developing a range of arguments concerning the possibility of political beginnings in the current moment, the papers collected in After Sovereignty contribute to a renewed interest in the problem of sovereignty in theoretical and political debate. They also provide a multitude of resources for the urgent, if necessarily fractured and diffuse, effort to reconfigure sovereignty today. Whilst it has regularly been suggested that the sovereignty of the nation-state is in crisis, the exact reasons for, and exact implications of, this crisis have rarely been so intensively examined.

This collection of essays by established scholars explores the juncture of action and appearance in the political thought of Hannah Arendt. "Action and Appearance" is a collection of essays that look into the crucial and complex link between action and appearance in Hannah Arendt's political thought. Contributed by respected scholars, the essays articulate around the following themes: the emergence of political action when questioning the nature of law, subjectivity and individuality; the relationship between ethics and politics; the nexus of (co-)appearance, thinking and truth; and, Arendt's writing as action and appearance. For Arendt, action is a worldly, public phenomenon that requires the presence of others to have any effect. Therefore, to act is more than to decide as it is also to appear. Much has been said about Arendt's theory of action, but little attention has been paid to her approach to appearance as is done in this volume. "Action and Appearance" explores both Arendt's familiar texts and previously unpublished or recently rediscovered texts to challenge the established readings of her work. Adding to established debates, it will be a unique resource to anyone interested in Hannah Arendt, political thought, political theory, and political philosophy.

Karl Marx has rarely, if ever, been treated as a writer. Charles Barbour argues not only that we can examine the literary and rhetorical aspects of Marx's texts, but also that, as soon as we begin to do so, those texts begin to take on new and entirely unexpected political implications. In the past, Marx scholars have characterized his literary remains as either a relatively coherent body of work, or a structure cut in half by a single, all-important "epistemological break." Neither metaphor really captures the incredible proliferation of documents that we retroactively label Karl Marx. Barbour proposes that we characterize them, instead, as a machine, or an assemblage of fragments and components that can be put together and taken apart in any number of different ways for any number of different purposes. Focusing primarily on Marx's early polemical writings, and especially the debates with Bruno Bauer and Max Stirner that make up most of the voluminous manuscript now called "The German Ideology," The Marx Machine endeavors to show how some of Marx's most consistently denigrated and ignored works can in fact be approached as responses to Marx's contemporary critics.

A new philosophical reflection on the secret and its importance to our contemporary political experience The Snowden Affair, Wikileaks, the 'lone wolf' terrorist, Clinton's private email account - the secret is arguably the central element of our contemporary political experience. Now, Charles Barbour looks at the basic ontological question 'what is a secret?' Organised as a reflection on Jacques Derrida's later writings on secrecy, four chapters each look at a separate problematic: society and the oath, literature and testimony, philosophy and deception, and time and death. Barbour shows that secrecy is not a negation of our relations with others, but a necessary condition of those relations. We can only reveal ourselves to one another (and, indeed, to anything other) insofar as we conceal as well. Key Features Provides a new philosophical reflection on the question of the secret, and its importance to contemporary political experience Develops a unique reading of the later work of the philosopher Jacques Derrida, and of his largely overlooked discussions of the secret in his later writings and seminars Initiates a new method of approaching Derrida's work - one that rejects obscurity and reveals the lucidity of his thought Compares Derrida's work with that of the German sociologist Georg Simmel, and thus argues for the significance of Derrida's work for sociology Connects Derrida's work to a series of philosophical debates in the Analytic tradition, such as the problems of consciousness, self-deception, and other minds Compares Derrida's work on the secret with a series of other important political thinkers, including Deleuze, Schmitt, Arendt, Bataille and Agamben. Keywords: Secrecy, Law, Oath, Testimony, Jacques Derrida, Georg Simmel Subject: philosophy