Bücher der Reihe Critical Theory and Contemporary Society

This book describes how human rights have given rise to a vision of benevolent governance that, if fully realised, would be antithetical to individual freedom. It describes human rights' evolution into a grand but nebulous project, rooted in compassion, with the overarching aim of improving universal welfare by defining the conditions of human well-being and imposing obligations on the state and other actors to realise them. This gives rise to a form of managerialism, preoccupied with measuring and improving the 'human rights performance' of the state, businesses and so on. The ultimate result is the 'governmentalisation' of a pastoral form of global human rights governance, in which power is exercised for the general good, moulded by a complex regulatory sphere which shapes the field of action for the individual at every turn. This, unsurprisingly, does not appeal to rights-holders themselves.

This is the first study to make a detail case for the Frankfurt School's relevance to understanding contemporary populism. It reconstructs their analysis of 'modern demagogy' and demonstrates its advantages over orthodox 'populism studies' and the work of Laclau. The book also extends the Institute's analysis to assess 'counter-demagogic' forces. -- .

This book examines the vital role of affect and feeling within the work of the early Frankfurt School. The author investigates a range of concepts - including melancholia, hope, (un)happiness, objects, and mimesis - and argues that a contemporary reading of critical theory needs to accommodate an adequate understanding of affect. -- .

Rearticulating critical theory with a contemporary focus, this book investigates how the conditions of democratic statehood have changed at key historical intervals since 1945. It argues that a sociological approach is needed to address conceptual deficits and explain how the mechanisms of democratic statehood can be updated today. -- .

The first English-language collection of the work of Europe's top legal sociologists, introducing his influential theories of societal constitutionalism and legal autopoiesis. -- .

This Critical Theory and Contemporary Society volume offers a critical review of epistemological issues in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. -- .