Agamben and Politics

This is a critical introduction to Giorgio Agamben's political thought that highlights its affirmative dimension. Rapidly becoming one of the most celebrated and controversial contemporary thinkers, Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has made an original contribution to 'first-philosophical' debates. He uses his ideas about ontology - the philosophy of being - as a foundation for his political theory. Sergei Prozorov looks at Agamben's entire corpus of political thought in this systematic and critical introduction to his fundamental concepts. He pulls out the concept of 'inoperativity' as central to Agamben's work from his earliest writings and shows how this concept works in the domains of language, law, history and humanity. This is the first critical introduction to focus on Agamben's political thought. It shows Agamben's political thought to be primarily affirmative rather than critical. It reads Agamben's politics in the context of his first philosophical works on ontology and ethics. It covers all of Agamben's published work, introducing the full variety of themes and concepts he addresses.

'Prozorov has provided us with a wide-ranging study of Agamben's work that is both useful and engaging, a study that will surely meet its goal of enticing and emboldening its readers to return to Agamben's own texts with renewed interest and understanding.' Adam Kotsko, Shimer College - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Sergei Prozorov is Lecturer in World Politics and Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the Department of Political and Economic Studies, University of Helsinki.