Destituent Power

This special issue explores the concept of “destituent power,” which aims to grasp the process of dismantling state and economic power without reconstituting that power anew. Whereas the prevailing modernist discourse envisions revolution as a cyclical struggle between established powers and constituent subjects seeking to replace them, these authors focus on a growing lineage of philosophers and political theorists who articulate a process in which the cancelation of sovereignty would coincide directly with unforeseen dimensions of collective life. This new effort to rethink emancipatory political transformation along postfoundational lines began with the Argentine uprising of 2001, and through this special issue the authors seek to join and further it.

Contributors: Kieran Aarons, Giorgio Agamben, Philippe Blouin, Rodrigo Karmy Bolton, Alan Cruz, Luhuna Carvalho, Graeme Hayes, Anneleen Kenis, Louise Knops, Sam Law, Joost de Moor, Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, Idris Robinson, Sherilyn MacGregor, Vanessa Nava, Katherine Nelson, Stephanie Wakefield