How Not to Be Governed: Readings and Interpretations from a Critical Anarchist Left

Fresh, brave, and excellent to think with. Nothing beats this as an original, critical and sympathetic reassessment of anarchism as a body of evolving emancipatory practices and as a body of knowledge. I can't wait to teach it.

Rather than simply rehashing classical anarchism, this work offers a genuinely original and innovative re-engagement with the properly heterogeneous and heretical dimension of anarchist thought, emphasising its untimely timeliness. With the category of 'critical anarchism,' anarchism is taken beyond the epistemological boundaries of the old masters like Bakunin and Kropotkin, revitalized through a dialogue with alternative perspectives such as post-structuralism, and reconsidered in the context of today's struggles against neo-colonialism and global capitalism. Critical anarchism thus brings to light the diversity and liveliness of anarchism, showing that it is more productively thought as a horizon of becoming. Above all, in pointing to the potential of anarchism as an alternative to the failures of statism on the one hand, and capitalism on the other, the book reminds us of the original libertarian-egalitarian impulse at the heart of radical politics and thus makes a vital contribution to what I see as the fundamental political challenge of today: reclaiming the ethical project of how not to be governed from the grasp of the radical Right.