Sovereignty and Its Other

Dimitris Vardoulakis's new book, Sovereignty and Its Other, is a powerful attempt to critically analyse and deconstruct the definition and the mechanisms of the exercise of sovereignty in both its historical and contemporary versions.——Thesis Eleven

“This book moves easily across various disciplines—philosophy, political science, theology, and literature—while illustrating certain key points with cases drawn from recent events.”——Jonathan Strauss, Miami University

Vardoulakis's wide-ranging critique of sovereignty takes us on an exciting journey from Thucydides through Rousseau to Foucault, providing us with new perspectives and fresh insights on some of the classical sources of the western political tradition. Against the logic of sovereignty and its justification of violence, Vardoulakis puts forward an original formulation of agonistic democracy and political judgment built on the solid ground of a brilliant interpretation of Spinoza's political thought. This book will do much to keep alive the revolutionary embers in the spirit of Arendt and Derrida.——Miguel Vatter, School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia