Universal Politics

Overall, Kapoor and Zalloua's negative approach makes an important contribution to International Relations literature in a genuine academic spirit, for it challenges some of the most basic assumptions that implicitly sustain current debates about global affairs. Readers should be warned that some of their most basic certainties might be shaken. * Juan Telleria, International Affairs *
In a world of escalating contradictions and looming catastrophes, starkly increasing inequalities and exploitation, and devastation of the environment produced by global capitalism, what is most dearly needed is a passionate plea for universal politics provided by this book. Between the tide of identity politics, with its incapacity to address global issues, and the vicissitudes of abstract universalism, Kapoor and Zalloua develop a powerful case for a reinvention of universality that does justice to radical philosophical thought and to the invigoration of the politics of solidarity. * Mladen Dolar, University of Ljubljana, The European Graduate School *
Universal Politics by Ilan Kapoor and Zahi Zalloua comes at a moment that could not have been more timely—when the world seems to be exploding with particularisms and when capital appears as the only universal. Avoiding both the trap of neocolonial universalism and the narrow particularism of identity-based politics, the book develops a truly compelling concept of universal politics. An absolute must-read for anyone interested in emancipatory politics. * Alenka Zupančič, Institute of Philosophy at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts *
An important intervention that opens up the problematic conceptualization of identity and ethical relationships in theories of cosmopolitanism to the alternative notion of negative universal politics and its corollary empty subject. Drawing principally on the work of the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj %Zi%zek, Kapoor and Zalloua demonstrate the importance of this universal politics through various case studies that envision a common solidarity of the excluded around the concurrent double struggle against domination and exploitation. They also prove the continued relevance of %Zi%zek's ideas to contemporary leftist struggles. A must-read for concerned political theorists, cultural studies scholars, philosophers, and leftist activists. * Jamil Khader, Professor of English and Dean of Research, Bethlehem University *