Multitude : war and democracy in the age of Empire

The world-renowned authors of the international best-seller Empire follow with an astonishing, politically energizing manifesto that argues that some of the most troubling aspects of the new world order contain the seeds of radical global social transformation With Empire, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri established themselves as visionary theoreticians of the new global order. They presented a profound new vision of a world in which the old system of nation-states has surrendered much of its hegemony to a supranational, multidimensional network of power they call empire. Empire penetrates into more aspects of life over more of the world than any traditional empire before it, and it cannot be beheaded for it is multinoded. The network is the empire and the empire is the network. Now, in Multitude, Hardt and Negri offer up an inspiring vision of how the people of the world can use the structures of empire against empire itself. With the enormous intellectual depth, historical perspective, and positive, enabling spirit that are the authors' hallmark, Multitude lays down in three parts a powerful case for hope. Part I, "War," examines the darkest aspects of empire. We are at a crisis point in human affairs, when the new circuits of power have grown beyond the ability of existing circuits of political sovereignty and social justice to contain them. A mind-set of perpetual war predominates in which all wars are police actions and all police actions are wars-counterinsurgencies against the enemies of empire. In Part II, the book's central section, "Multitude," they explain how empire, by colonizing and interconnecting more areas of human life ever more deeply, has actually created the possibility for democracy of a sort never before seen. Brought together in a multinoded commons of resistance, different groups combine and recombine in fluid new matrices of resistance. No longer the silent, oppressed "masses," they form a multitude. Hardt and Negri argue that the accelerating integration of economic, social, political, and cultural forces into a complex network they call the biopolitical is actually the most radical step in the liberation of humankind since the Industrial Revolution broke up the old feudal order. Finally, in "Democracy," the authors put forward their agenda for how the global multitude can form a robust biopolitical commons in which democracy can truly thrive on a global scale. Exhilarating in its ambition, range, and depth of interpretive insight, Multitude consolidates Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's stature as the most exciting and important political philosophers at work in the world today. "In their international bestseller Empire, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri presented a grand unified vision of a world in which the old forms of imperialism are no longer effective, and the various nation-states, even the most powerful, have to surrender much of their sovereignty to a supranational, multidimensional network of power they call Empire." "But what of Empire in an age of "American empire"? Many say that the unilateral war on terror conducted by the United States proves that old-school imperialism is alive and well. In Multitude Hardt and Negri argue that the reverse is true : the grievous failures of the U.S. project only confirm that using the tools of a previous historical moment to address contemporary problems is a recipe for ever more conflict, insecurity, and instability. The only way for the rich and powerful to maintain their interests and guarantee the global order is to establish a broad collaboration among the ruling powers in a new form of Empire. But such an imperial peace is by no means the solution for the vast majority of the world; such a "peace" really presides over a global state of violence that is progressively permeating all aspects of our society, exacerbating hierarchies, and subverting the traditional possibilities of democratic exchange."--BOOK JACKET. Examines Empire Networks Throughout History And In The Present Day, Arguing That Key Issues Within The New World Order May Enable Significant Social Transformation And Global Democracy. 1: War -- Simplicissimus -- Counterinsurgencies -- Resistance -- 2: Multitude -- Dangerous Classes -- De Corpore -- Traces Of The Multitude -- 3: Democracy -- The Long March Of Democracy -- Global Demands For Democracy -- Democracy Of The Multitude. Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri. Sequel To: Empire. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 359-404) And Index. The co-authors of Empire examine empire networks throughout history and in the present day, arguing that key issues within the new world order may enable significant social transformation and global democracy. Reprint.