Elena Loizidou

The term anarchism derives from the Greek word ἀναρχία meaning ‘without ruler or leader, and without law’. Although the roots of the word can be traced back to Ancient Greece, anarchism as a political ideology is relatively new. Anarchism developed as a political ideology at the end of the eighteenth century at the time of the emergence of the modern State. And, as is well known, anarchism developed both a politics and a way of life that did not include the State as its compass, support and structure. In contrast to the extensive contemporary literature about anarchist politics and ideas, this book focuses on the practices and attitudes that constitute what the author refers to as an anarchist ‘art of life’. The book draws on archival material that records the life and actions of the anarchist Emma Goldman and her associates, legal documents and writings by classical (Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Peter Krotopkin) and contemporary anarchists (David Graeber, Saul Newman, Ciarra Bottici), as well as contemporary groups such as the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army and Occupy Wall Street. By studying the idiosyncrasies of this art of life, it argues, we are better able to appreciate how anarchism is not some future utopian oriented project, waiting to come into existence after a revolution, but rather exists in parallel to the life and politics offered by the State. Anarchism: An Art of Living Without Law will be of interest to graduate students and academics working on critical legal theory, political theory, sociology and cultural studies.

An Art of Living Without Law

Anarchism

Disobedience has been practiced and considered since time immemorial. The aim of this edited collection is to explore the concept and practice of disobedience through the prism of contemporary ideas and events. Past writings on disobedience represented it as a largely political practice that revealed the limits of government or law. It was not, for example, thought of as a subjective exigency and its discussion in relation to law and politics was tied to an unduly narrow conception of these terms. Disobedience: Concept and Practice reveals the multivalent, multidisciplinary and poly-local nature of disobedience. The essays in this volume demonstrate how disobedience operates in various terrains, and may be articulated in relation to textuality, aesthetics and subjectivity, as well as politics and law. A rich and useful guide to current legal, political and social possibilities, this book provides a fresh perspective on a subject that is of both historical importance and contemporary relevance.

Concept and Practice

Disobedience

The first to use Judith Butler’s work as a reading of how the legal subject is formed, this book traces how Butler comes to the themes of ethics, law and politics analyzing their interrelation and explaining how they relate to Butler’s question of how people can have more liveable and viable lives. Acknowledging the potency and influence of Butler’s ‘concept’ of gender as process, which occupies a well developed and well discussed position in current literature, Elena Loizidou argues that the possibility of people having more liveable and viable lives is articulated by Butler within the parameters of a sustained agonistic relationship between the three spheres of ethics, law and politics. Suggesting that Butler’s rounded understanding of the interrelationship of these three spheres will enable critical legal scholarship, as well as critical theory more generally, to consider how the question of life’s unsustainable conditions can be rethought and redressed, this book is a key read for all students of legal ethics, political philosophy and social theory.

Judith Butler: Ethics, Law, Politics

Ian Christie

Leslie Moran

Emma Sandon

This book is an essential introduction to the complex issues and debates in the field of law and film. It explores interconnections that are usually ignored between law and film through three main themes: A Fantastic Jurisprudence explores representations of law in law Law, Aesthetics and Visual Technologies focuses on the visual aspects of law's moving image Regulation: Histories, Cultures, Practices brings together work on different dimensions and contexts of regulation, censorship, state subsidies and intellectual property to explore the complex inter-relationship between the state, industry and private regulation. Law's Moving Image is an innovative, multi-disciplinary contribution to the rapidly growing fields of study in law and film, law and visual culture, law and culture, criminology, social and cultural studies. It will be of interest to students and academics involved in these areas.

Law's Moving Image

The first to use Judith Butler's work as a reading of how the legal subject is formed, this book traces how Butler comes to the themes of ethics, law and politics analyzing their interrelation and explaining how they relate to Butler's question of how people can have more liveable and viable lives. Acknowledging the potency and influence of Butler's 'concept' of gender as process, which occupies a well developed and well discussed position in current literature, Elena Loizidou argues that the possibility of people having more liveable and viable lives is articulated by Butler within the parameters of a sustained agonistic relationship between the three spheres of ethics, law and politics. Suggesting that Butler's rounded understanding of the interrelationship of these three spheres will enable critical legal scholarship, as well as critical theory more generally, to consider how the question of life's unsustainable conditions can be rethought and redressed, this book is a key read for all students of legal ethics, political philosophy and social theory.

Elena Loizidou

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