Taming an Uncertain Future

Temporality, Sovereignty, and the Politics of Anticipatory Governance

Liam P.D. Stockdale

A popular cliché in contemporary public discourse holds that we live in a time of increasing uncertainty; that the next catastrophe is perpetually imminent and yet increasingly beyond our capacity to foresee. The future, in short, is becoming much more difficult to control. One consequence of this increasingly widespread understanding of the future is that societies have turned to anticipatory governance strategies based on such concepts as risk management, the precautionary principle, and pre-emption to manage human affairs.

This book takes an in-depth look at this trend by using the example of the ‘pre-emptive security’ strategies deployed in the post-9/11 War on Terror to develop a critical understanding of how the proliferation of such anticipatory governance strategies affects the way political power is organized and exercised. The book also makes a wider case for taking issues of time and the future more seriously in the study of contemporary global politics in particular and the social world more generally.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International

Pages: 198 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-1-78348-500-0 • Hardback • December 2015 • $176.00 • (£137.00)

978-1-78348-501-7 • Paperback • December 2015 • $59.00 • (£45.00)

978-1-78348-502-4 • eBook • December 2015 • $56.00 • (£43.00)

Series: Future Perfect: Images of the Time to Come in Philosophy, Politics and Cultural Studies

Subjects: Philosophy / Political, Political Science / International Relations / General, Political Science / Security (National & International)

Taming an Uncertain Future

Temporality, Sovereignty, and the Politics of Anticipatory Governance

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

A popular cliché in contemporary public discourse holds that we live in a time of increasing uncertainty; that the next catastrophe is perpetually imminent and yet increasingly beyond our capacity to foresee. The future, in short, is becoming much more difficult to control. One consequence of this increasingly widespread understanding of the future is that societies have turned to anticipatory governance strategies based on such concepts as risk management, the precautionary principle, and pre-emption to manage human affairs.

This book takes an in-depth look at this trend by using the example of the ‘pre-emptive security’ strategies deployed in the post-9/11 War on Terror to develop a critical understanding of how the proliferation of such anticipatory governance strategies affects the way political power is organized and exercised. The book also makes a wider case for taking issues of time and the future more seriously in the study of contemporary global politics in particular and the social world more generally.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International

Pages: 198 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-1-78348-500-0 • Hardback • December 2015 • $176.00 • (£137.00)

978-1-78348-501-7 • Paperback • December 2015 • $59.00 • (£45.00)

978-1-78348-502-4 • eBook • December 2015 • $56.00 • (£43.00)

Series: Future Perfect: Images of the Time to Come in Philosophy, Politics and Cultural Studies

Subjects: Philosophy / Political, Political Science / International Relations / General, Political Science / Security (National & International)

Author

Liam P. D. Stockdale is a Postdoctoral Fellow jointly appointed to the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition and the Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning at McMaster University, Canada.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Temporality, Futurity, and the Political / Part I / 2. The Politics of Temporal Control / 3. “To Kill Him Who is Making Ready to Kill”: The Anticipatory Governance of (In)security/ Part II / 4. Anticipatory Political Timescapes / 5. Pre-emptive Security and the Politics of Exceptionalism / 6. Precarious Subjectivities, Drone Warfare, Autoimmunity / 7. Conclusion: Anticipatory Governance, Liberal Democracy, and the Politics of the Future / Bibliography / About the Author / Index