Description: This book traces a dialectic relationship between "politics" and "antipolitics," the first, as used here, being akin to philosophy as an activity of open inquiry, plural democracy, and truth-finding, and the latter in the realm of ideology, technocracy, and presupposed certainties. It returns back to the emergence of a New Left movement in the 1960s in order to follow the history of this relationship since then. It addresses contemporary debates by looking to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Bloc, and asking in the wake of that: what is a revolution? Finally, it draws on these analyses to examine the age of terrorism after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and resounds with a call to pursue democracy and real politics in the face of new forms of antipolitics.
Review Quotes:
"Dick Howard has been a consistent and powerful voice on the left for a radically democratic, anti-totalitarian political philosophy. In this book he traces the foundations of that perspective and addresses the hopes for an activist, responsive, and responsible democracy raised by the democratic revolutions that ended totalitarianism in Eastern Europe and the demise of the repressive antinomies of Cold War mentalities both on the right and the left."
- Michael H. Bernhard, Raymond and Miriam Ehrlich Eminent Scholar Chair in Political Science, University of Florida, USA
"Historical depth, philosophical clarity, political acumen and rhetorical sobriety make reading Dick Howard both pleasurable and profitable."
-Norman Birnbaum, University Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center, USA