The Rise of the Global Imaginary : Political Ideologies From the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror

Neoliberalism. Neoconservatism. Postmarxism. Postmodernism. Is there really something genuinely new about today's "isms?" Have we truly moved past our traditional ideological landscape? Combining political history, philosophical interpretation, and good old-fashioned story-telling, The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror traces ideology's remarkable journey from Count Destutt de Tracy's Enlightenment-era "science of ideas" to President George W. Bush's "imperial globalism." Rejecting futile attempts to "update" modern political belief systems by adorning them with prefixes, author Manfred Steger offers a highly original explanation for their novelty--their increasing ability to articulate deep-seated understandings of community in global rather than national terms. This growing awareness of globality fuels the visions of social elites who reside in the privileged spaces of our global cities. It erupts in the hopes and demands of migrants who traverse national boundaries in search of their piece of the global promise. Stoked by cross-cultural encounters, technological change, and scientific innovation, the rising global imaginary has destabilized the grand political ideologies codified during the national age. The national is slowly losing its grip on people's minds, but the global has not yet ascended to the commanding heights once occupied by its predecessor. However, the first rays of the rising global imaginary have provided enough light to capture the contours of a profoundly altered ideological landscape. Pointing in this direction, The Rise of the Global Imaginary ends with a timely interpretation of the apparent convergence of ideology and religion in the dawning global age--a broad phenomenon that extends beyond the obvious cases of Christian fundamentalism and Islamic jihadism. "Neoliberalism. Neoconservatism. Postmarxism. Postmodernism. Is there really something genuinely new about today's "isms?" Have we truly moved past our traditional ideological landscape? Combining political history, philosophical interpretation, and good old-fashioned story-telling, The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror traces ideology's remarkable journey from Count Destutt de Tracy's Enlightenment-era "science of ideas" to President George W. Bush's "imperial globalism." Rejecting futile attempts to "update" modern political belief systems by adorning them with prefixes, author Manfred Steger offers a highly original explanation for their novelty--their increasing ability to articulate deep-seated understandings of community in global rather than national terms. This growing awareness of globality fuels the visions of social elites who reside in the privileged spaces of our global cities. It erupts in the hopes and demands of migrants who traverse national boundaries in search of their piece of the global promise. Stoked by cross-cultural encounters, technological change, and scientific innovation, the rising global imaginary has destabilized the grand political ideologies codified during the national age. The national is slowly losing its grip on people's minds, but the global has not yet ascended to the commanding heights once occupied by its predecessor. However, the first rays of the rising global imaginary have provided enough light to capture the contours of a profoundly altered ideological landscape. Pointing in this direction, The Rise of the Global Imaginary ends with a timely interpretation of the apparent convergence of ideology and religion in the dawning global age--a broad phenomenon that extends beyond the obvious cases of Christian fundamentalism and Islamic jihadism"--Jacket Neoliberalism. Neoconservatism. Postmarxism. Postmodernism. Is there really something genuinely new about today's isms? Have we moved past our traditional ideological landscape? Combining political history, philosophical interpretation, and good old-fashioned story-telling, Manfred Steger traces ideology's remarkable journey from Count Destutt de Tracy's Enlightenment "science of ideas" to President George W. Bush's "imperial globalism." Rejecting futile attempts to "update" modern political belief systems by adorning them with prefixes, the author offers instead a highly original explanation for their novelty-their increasing ability to articulate deep-seated understandings of community in global rather than national terms. This growing awareness of globality fuels the visions of social elites who reside in the privileged spaces of our global cities. It erupts in the hopes and demands of migrants who traverse national boundaries in search of their piece of the global promise. Stoked by cross-cultural encounters, technological change, and scientific innovation, the rising global imaginary has destabilized the grand political ideologies codified during the national age. The national is slowly losing its grip on people's minds, but the global has not yet ascended to the commanding heights once occupied by its predecessor. Still, the first rays of the rising global imaginary have provided enough light to capture the contours of a profoundly altered ideological landscape. Pointing in this direction, the book ends with a timely interpretation of the apparent convergence of ideology and religion in the dawning global age-a broad phenomenon that extends beyond the obvious cases of Christian fundamentalism and Islamic jihadism. 0199286930......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 9 Introduction: Political Ideologies and Social Imaginaries......Page 14 Part I. The National Imaginary......Page 30 1. Ideology and Revolution: From Superscience to False Consciousness......Page 32 2. The Grand Ideologies of the Nineteenth Century: British Liberalism, French Conservatism, and German Socialism......Page 57 3. Twentieth-Century Totalitarianisms: Russian Communism and German Nazism......Page 97 Part II. The Global Imaginary......Page 140 4. Third-World Liberationism and Other Cold War Isms: No End to Ideology......Page 142 5. Market Globalism and Justice Globalism in the Roaring Nineties......Page 183 6. Jihadist Globalism versus Imperial Globalism: The Great Ideological Struggle of the Twenty-First Century?......Page 226 Notes......Page 262 Selected Bibliography......Page 300 B......Page 319 C......Page 320 D......Page 321 G......Page 322 H......Page 323 K......Page 324 M......Page 325 N......Page 326 P......Page 327 S......Page 328 T......Page 329 W......Page 330 Z......Page 331 ISBN-13: 9780199286935 0199286930 1 Contents 8 Preface and Acknowledgments 9 Introduction: Political Ideologies and Social Imaginaries 14 Part I. The National Imaginary 30 1. Ideology and Revolution: From Superscience to False Consciousness 32 2. The Grand Ideologies of the Nineteenth Century: British Liberalism, French Conservatism, and German Socialism 57 3. Twentieth-Century Totalitarianisms: Russian Communism and German Nazism 97 Part II. The Global Imaginary 140 4. Third-World Liberationism and Other Cold War Isms: No End to Ideology 142 5. Market Globalism and Justice Globalism in the Roaring Nineties 183 6. Jihadist Globalism versus Imperial Globalism: The Great Ideological Struggle of the Twenty-First Century? 226 Notes 262 Selected Bibliography 300 Index 319 A 319 B 319 C 320 D 321 E 322 F 322 G 322 H 323 I 324 J 324 K 324 L 325 M 325 N 326 O 327 P 327 Q 328 R 328 S 328 T 329 U 330 V 330 W 330 Y 331 Z 331 A tour de force examination of the contemporary ideological landscape by one of the world's leading analysts of globalization. - ;Neoliberalism. Neoconservatism. Postmarxism. Postmodernism. Is there really something genuinely new about today's isms? Have we moved past our traditional ideological landscape? Combining political history, philosophical interpretation, and good old-fashioned story-telling, Manfred Steger traces ideology's remarkable journey from Count Destutt de Tracy's Enlightenment "" to President George W. Bush's "" Rejecting futile attempts to. "" modern political belief system Combining political history, philosophical interpretation and story-telling, Steger traces ideology's remarkable journey from de Tracy's Enlightenment 'science of ideas' to George W. Bush's 'imperial globalism'. He finds in '-isms' an ability to articulate deep-seated understandings of community in global rather than national terms