- Jennet Kirkpatrick is Associate Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. ... moreJennet Kirkpatrick is Associate Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University.
Professor Kirkpatrick work focuses on resistance and political theory. She is the author of Uncivil Disobedience: Studies in Violence and Democratic Politics (Princeton University Press, 2008) and she has published articles in Political Theory, The Review of Politics, Dissent, Contemporary Political Theory, American Political Thought, and Perspectives on Politics.
Her new book, The Virtues of Exit: On Resistance and Quitting Politics (forthcoming, University of North Carolina Press, 2017), examines how exit can be used to highlight and resist injustices.
In addition to her interest in resistance, Professor Kirkpatrick also teaches and writes about morality and politics and feminist theory. She earned her B.A. in Politics from Mount Holyoke College and her doctoral degree in Political Science from Rutgers University.edit
Successful democracies rely on an active citizenry. They require citizens to participate by voting, serving on juries, and running for office. But what happens when those citizens purposefully opt out of politics? Exit—the act of... more
Successful democracies rely on an active citizenry. They require citizens to participate by voting, serving on juries, and running for office. But what happens when those citizens purposefully opt out of politics? Exit—the act of leaving—is often thought of as purely instinctual, a part of the human “fight or flight” response, or, alternatively, motivated by an anti participatory, self-centered impulse. However, in this eye-opening book, Jennet Kirkpatrick argues that the concept of exit deserves closer scrutiny. She names and examines several examples of political withdrawal, from Thoreau decamping to Walden to slaves fleeing to the North before the Civil War. In doing so, Kirkpatrick not only explores what happens when people make the decision to remove themselves but also expands our understanding of exit as a political act, illustrating how political systems change in the aftermath of actual or threatened departure. Moreover, she reframes the decision to refuse to play along—whether as a fugitive slave, a dissident who is exiled but whose influence remains, or a government in exile—as one that shapes political discourse, historically and today.
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Uncivil Disobedience examines the roles violence and terrorism have played in the exercise of democratic ideals in America. Jennet Kirkpatrick explores how crowds, rallying behind the principle of popular sovereignty and desiring to make... more
Uncivil Disobedience examines the roles violence and terrorism have played in the exercise of democratic ideals in America. Jennet Kirkpatrick explores how crowds, rallying behind the principle of popular sovereignty and desiring to make law conform to justice, can disdain law and engage in violence. She exposes the hazards of democracy that arise when citizens seek to control government directly, and demonstrates the importance of laws and institutions as limitations on the will of the people.
Kirkpatrick looks at some of the most explosive instances of uncivil disobedience in American history: the contemporary militia movement, Southern lynch mobs, frontier vigilantism, and militant abolitionism. She argues that the groups behind these violent episodes are often motivated by admirable democratic ideas of popular power and autonomy. Kirkpatrick shows how, in this respect, they are not so unlike the much-admired adherents of nonviolent civil disobedience, yet she reveals how those who engage in violent disobedience use these admirable democratic principles as a justification for terrorism and killing. She uses a "bottom-up" analysis of events to explain how this transformation takes place, paying close attention to what members of these groups do and how they think about the relationship between citizens and the law.
Uncivil Disobedience calls for a new vision of liberal democracy where the rule of the people and the rule of law are recognized as fundamental ideals, and where neither is triumphant or transcendent.
Kirkpatrick looks at some of the most explosive instances of uncivil disobedience in American history: the contemporary militia movement, Southern lynch mobs, frontier vigilantism, and militant abolitionism. She argues that the groups behind these violent episodes are often motivated by admirable democratic ideas of popular power and autonomy. Kirkpatrick shows how, in this respect, they are not so unlike the much-admired adherents of nonviolent civil disobedience, yet she reveals how those who engage in violent disobedience use these admirable democratic principles as a justification for terrorism and killing. She uses a "bottom-up" analysis of events to explain how this transformation takes place, paying close attention to what members of these groups do and how they think about the relationship between citizens and the law.
Uncivil Disobedience calls for a new vision of liberal democracy where the rule of the people and the rule of law are recognized as fundamental ideals, and where neither is triumphant or transcendent.
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<p>The concluding chapter uses the Exodus narrative to exemplify three main findings of the book. First, Exodus provides an early example of an attached exit. The Israelites leave Egypt, but they are also commanded to remember their... more
<p>The concluding chapter uses the Exodus narrative to exemplify three main findings of the book. First, Exodus provides an early example of an attached exit. The Israelites leave Egypt, but they are also commanded to remember their oppression and the plight of those who remain in bondage. Second, the Israelites enacted an oppositional, resistant exit that was a direct challenge to the dominant political authority. The narrative reveals the connections between exit and political opposition. Third, exits are not necessarily the end of politics or the end of political community. For the Israelites, the flight out of Egypt begins a politically creative time in which they become a political people. Leaving can spark political innovation and experimentation; it can be the beginning of politics, not its end.</p>
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Crimes of Dissent: Civil Disobedience, Criminal Justice, and the Politics of Conscience. By Jarret S. Lovell. New York: New York University Press, 2009. 239 pp. $23.00 paper. Crimes of Dissent attempts to provide a broad overview of... more
Crimes of Dissent: Civil Disobedience, Criminal Justice, and the Politics of Conscience. By Jarret S. Lovell. New York: New York University Press, 2009. 239 pp. $23.00 paper. Crimes of Dissent attempts to provide a broad overview of principled law-breaking through dissent by tracing the experiences of a subset of protesters who are serially arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience. As such, these activists typically expect to be arrested and prepare themselves and their affinity groups for arrests (sometimes by choreographing the arrest with authorities). Perhaps surprising to some, these protesters are not uniformly progressive; right-wing civil disobedience practitioners (e.g., pro-life activists who block clinics) are featured prominently in the book. This book takes on a number of distinct agendas. Theoretically, the book is arguing for a cultural criminology for dissent that that would see civil disobedience as principled law-breaking, or as a ''pure'' crime (see Chapter 3 for a discussion of characteristics of pure crime). Lovell's application of cultural criminology has three prongs. First, cultural criminology has generally tried to show how everyday behaviors are criminalized and to explain how law-breaking might help resolve ''psychic conflicts'' (p. 20) arising from tensions between cultural and moral beliefs on the one hand and legal and political restrictions on the other. By arguing for a specific brand of anarchism that champions individual moral responsibility over legality (pp. 43, 52), Lovell applies this tenet of cultural criminology to argue that ''many of the so-called crimes of dissent are in actuality cultural reactions'' to progressive or conservative political agendas (p. 20). Indeed, he argues that ''what society sometimes treats as criminal behaviors is later heralded as the starting points of justice'' (p. 206). Second, cultural criminology has focused on the pleasure that can result from law-breaking, and Lovell stresses the positive aspects of participating in civil disobedience, such as the ''pleasure to be derived from openly fighting the system'' (p. 20) and from ''the transgression of legal norms'' (p. 23). Finally, cultural criminology often locates lawbreaking within a subculture that supports legal transgression, and Lovell suggests that affinity groups and larger networks of activists create subcultures that support illegal forms of dissent. This book also has a clear normative dimension, advocating throughout for a particular brand of anarchism. Showing his cards fully, Lovell concludes the book noting that ''hopefully . . . through a discussion of anarchy, readers have gained a sense of the extent to which we as a citizenry have become (too) dependent on government and the legal system to reverse the injustices that it originally set in motion'' (p. …
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Crimes of Dissent: Civil Disobedience, Criminal Justice, and the Politics of Conscience. By Jarret S. Lovell. New York: New York University Press, 2009. 239 pp. $23.00 paper. Crimes of Dissent attempts to provide a broad overview of... more
Crimes of Dissent: Civil Disobedience, Criminal Justice, and the Politics of Conscience. By Jarret S. Lovell. New York: New York University Press, 2009. 239 pp. $23.00 paper. Crimes of Dissent attempts to provide a broad overview of principled law-breaking through dissent by tracing the experiences of a subset of protesters who are serially arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience. As such, these activists typically expect to be arrested and prepare themselves and their affinity groups for arrests (sometimes by choreographing the arrest with authorities). Perhaps surprising to some, these protesters are not uniformly progressive; right-wing civil disobedience practitioners (e.g., pro-life activists who block clinics) are featured prominently in the book. This book takes on a number of distinct agendas. Theoretically, the book is arguing for a cultural criminology for dissent that that would see civil disobedience as principled law-breaking, or as a ''pure'' crime (see Chapter 3 for a discussion of characteristics of pure crime). Lovell's application of cultural criminology has three prongs. First, cultural criminology has generally tried to show how everyday behaviors are criminalized and to explain how law-breaking might help resolve ''psychic conflicts'' (p. 20) arising from tensions between cultural and moral beliefs on the one hand and legal and political restrictions on the other. By arguing for a specific brand of anarchism that champions individual moral responsibility over legality (pp. 43, 52), Lovell applies this tenet of cultural criminology to argue that ''many of the so-called crimes of dissent are in actuality cultural reactions'' to progressive or conservative political agendas (p. 20). Indeed, he argues that ''what society sometimes treats as criminal behaviors is later heralded as the starting points of justice'' (p. 206). Second, cultural criminology has focused on the pleasure that can result from law-breaking, and Lovell stresses the positive aspects of participating in civil disobedience, such as the ''pleasure to be derived from openly fighting the system'' (p. 20) and from ''the transgression of legal norms'' (p. 23). Finally, cultural criminology often locates lawbreaking within a subculture that supports legal transgression, and Lovell suggests that affinity groups and larger networks of activists create subcultures that support illegal forms of dissent. This book also has a clear normative dimension, advocating throughout for a particular brand of anarchism. Showing his cards fully, Lovell concludes the book noting that ''hopefully . . . through a discussion of anarchy, readers have gained a sense of the extent to which we as a citizenry have become (too) dependent on government and the legal system to reverse the injustices that it originally set in motion'' (p. …
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<p>The concluding chapter uses the Exodus narrative to exemplify three main findings of the book. First, Exodus provides an early example of an attached exit. The Israelites leave Egypt, but they are also commanded to remember their... more
<p>The concluding chapter uses the Exodus narrative to exemplify three main findings of the book. First, Exodus provides an early example of an attached exit. The Israelites leave Egypt, but they are also commanded to remember their oppression and the plight of those who remain in bondage. Second, the Israelites enacted an oppositional, resistant exit that was a direct challenge to the dominant political authority. The narrative reveals the connections between exit and political opposition. Third, exits are not necessarily the end of politics or the end of political community. For the Israelites, the flight out of Egypt begins a politically creative time in which they become a political people. Leaving can spark political innovation and experimentation; it can be the beginning of politics, not its end.</p>
Of late, resistance has become a central notion in political theory, standing at the heart of attempts to respond to the dilemmas of contemporary times. However, many accounts tend to ascribe to an idealised, heroic view. In this view,... more
Of late, resistance has become a central notion in political theory, standing at the heart of attempts to respond to the dilemmas of contemporary times. However, many accounts tend to ascribe to an idealised, heroic view. In this view, resistance represents a clearcut action against injustice and stems from individuals’ conscious choice and their unwavering ethical commitment to the cause. Some liberal scholars, most notably Candice Delmas and Jason Brennan, have argued that citizens of democratic societies have a moral duty to resist state-sanctioned injustice. This resistance occurs either through ‘principled – civil or uncivil – disobedience’ or through ‘defensive actions’ (Delmas 2018: 5; Brennan 2019: 15). While acknowledging that pervasive injustice can compromise our cognitive and moral capacities, however, their articulation of our political obligation to resist refrains from a sustained examination of the moral dilemmas, uncertainties and risks that arise when fighting syst...
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Philosophy, Feminist Theory, Political Science, Masculinity, and 15 morePolitical Violence, Judith Butler, Gender And Violence, Hannah Arendt, Frantz Fanon, Civil disobedience, Primo Levi, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Betrayal, Philosophy of civil disobedience, Complicity, Everyday Resistance, Heroic Resistance, Moral goodness, and Grey Zones of Resistance
This chapter explores a dilemma faced by some political activists operating in constrained political contexts. Should they stay or should they go? In authoritarian contexts, remaining in the country of origin can carry serious... more
This chapter explores a dilemma faced by some political activists operating in constrained political contexts. Should they stay or should they go? In authoritarian contexts, remaining in the country of origin can carry serious risks—including torture, incarceration, and death. Leaving, on the other hand, may be seen as cowardly, self-interested, or an abandonment of political obligations to the cause of opposition. This chapter looks at contemporary political exiles who have negotiated this dilemma in an innovative way by continuing their opposition from abroad. It illuminates resistant exits in a contemporary political contexts and looks more closely at the a complicated set of relationships between self-interest and political concern for others. It argues that it can be difficult to discern a sharp demarcation between acting selfishly and behaving selflessly for these activists. The connection between the two is tangled, one in which self-interested concerns lie atop and underneat...
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This chapter examines Plato’s Crito to explore the political challenges of leaving one’s homeland. When the dialogue opens Socrates is facing a death sentence for high political crimes and he has every reason to flee Athens. His friend... more
This chapter examines Plato’s Crito to explore the political challenges of leaving one’s homeland. When the dialogue opens Socrates is facing a death sentence for high political crimes and he has every reason to flee Athens. His friend Crito tries to persuade Socrates of the virtues of escape, freedom, and self preservation. These arguments are challenged by the Laws of Athens, who are personified by Socrates and make a case against a faithless break with the polity. The chapter argues that this debate illuminates a more general ambivalence that migrants may experience: the push to go, the pull to stay, and the sense of internal conflict that can accompany the prospect of departing. Read in this way, the dialogue enriches an understanding of the meaning and consequences of an exit for the individual.
This chapter examines several narratives written by American slaves who escaped captivity prior to the Civil War. It argues that the accounts of former and fugitive slaves are animated by a particular notion of leaving, one that is at... more
This chapter examines several narratives written by American slaves who escaped captivity prior to the Civil War. It argues that the accounts of former and fugitive slaves are animated by a particular notion of leaving, one that is at odds with the orthodox notion of exit and its emphasis on individual autonomy. Narrators use their own flights from slavery to expose the continued suffering of the enslaved. In this way, narrators deflect attention from themselves and their personal experiences and focus it on the plight of their people. Their accounts reveal an abiding connection with Those they left and serve to illuminate the hardship, misery, and injustice of their lives. Read in this way, these narratives suggest a conception of exit that is linked to suffering, solidarity, and communal concerns. This is particularly clear in Harriet Jacobs’s account, which gives insight into the ways that gender and race can influence the act of leaving and how it is conceptualized.
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<p>This chapter explores the work of Henry David Thoreau, a figure who celebrates the benefits of extracting oneself from political life. It argues that Thoreau's writings about exit reveal the possibility of a expressive exit,... more
<p>This chapter explores the work of Henry David Thoreau, a figure who celebrates the benefits of extracting oneself from political life. It argues that Thoreau's writings about exit reveal the possibility of a expressive exit, that is, a departure that is political in and of itself. For Thoreau, leaving a political community had the potential to illuminate the iniquitous, evil political agreements and institutions at its core. Thoreau was centrally concerned with the American institution of slavery; therefore, he frequently linked leaving with abolitionism in his writings. But his writings provide a more general understanding of the potentially disruptive effects of leaving in an expressive and ostentatious way, one that draws public attention to the exit itself and its connection with moral injustice.</p>
Teaching the social contract tradition to students can be frustrating. Works by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau may seem arcane, abstract, or irrelevant to students. Yet, it is important for students t...
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Much of the political theory literature on Thoreau is divided, with one camp focusing on resistance and civil disobedience, while the second concentrates on withdrawal. This bifurcation is not borne out in Thoreau’s texts, and it can lead... more
Much of the political theory literature on Thoreau is divided, with one camp focusing on resistance and civil disobedience, while the second concentrates on withdrawal. This bifurcation is not borne out in Thoreau’s texts, and it can lead to a mischaracterization of Thoreau as an essentially instrumental thinker and an idiosyncratic political actor. In this article I argue against this bifurcation of withdrawal and resistance, maintaining that Thoreau’s exit was simultaneously a mode of resistance. His “resistant exit” has double political significance because it was instrumental and expressive. In addition to the change that it can produce in the individual, Thoreau’s resistant exit is consequential because the action itself symbolizes opposition.
Research Interests: Political Science, American Political Development, Resistance (Social), Anti-slavery, Transcendental Philosophy, and 9 moreAmerican Political Thought, Thoreau, American Transcendentalists, Civil disobedience, Henry David Thoreau, Abolitionism, Walden, American transcendentalism, and Abolitionist Movement
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What should the relationship between citizens and the law in a liberal democracy look like? The idea that citizens should be associated with the laws that govern them is a cornerstone of democratic theory. Yet the specific nature of this... more
What should the relationship between citizens and the law in a liberal democracy look like? The idea that citizens should be associated with the laws that govern them is a cornerstone of democratic theory. Yet the specific nature of this relationship has varied widely in theory and practice. I examine one conceptualization of this relationship: the notion that democratic citizens should substantively identify with the law and see their preferences, will, or morality in it. This kind of civic identification with the law is suggested in Carl Schmitt's The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy. Schmitt's text points both to the seductive appeal of civic identification with the law and to its pernicious potential.
Research Interests: Sociology, Law, Political Philosophy, Political Participation, Democratic Theory, and 14 moreSocial Movement, Political Science, Politics, Populism, American Political Thought, Citizenship and Identity, Democracy, Carl Schmitt, Carl Schmitt (Political Science), Citizenship, Radical Right, Radical Right Populism, Political Extremism, and Civil Socity
Research Interests: American Studies, Constitutional Law, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Political Participation, and 15 moreDemocratic Theory, Political Science, Collective Action, Philosophy Of Law, American Political Thought, Citizenship and Identity, Democracy, Constitutionalism, Contemporary Political Theory, Contemporary, Philosophical, Philosophy of Law, American Frontier and West, Pioneers, and American Pioneers
... Not since W. Fitzhugh Brundage's Lynching in the New South (1993) has there been such an important book in this field ... In another ex-ample, John Barbour, an immigration inspec-tor, could not have “remained at San Francisco... more
... Not since W. Fitzhugh Brundage's Lynching in the New South (1993) has there been such an important book in this field ... In another ex-ample, John Barbour, an immigration inspec-tor, could not have “remained at San Francisco throughout the construction and initial opera-tion ...
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added)), international human rights are descriptive as well as normative. For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, ‘‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights’’ (emphasis added). Insofar as... more
added)), international human rights are descriptive as well as normative. For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, ‘‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights’’ (emphasis added). Insofar as descriptive or declaratory formulations command greater moral authority, human rights norms may be more readily invoked and mobilized than the principle of equality. Furthermore, unlike the principle of equality analyzed in Elusive Citizenship, human rights have been expressly codified in international covenants that explicitly recognize the limits to the principle of national sovereignty. What recent events have shown is that whether or not the principle of equality may gain ascendancy will likely depend on the extent to which notions about moral desert and human rights can be successfully mobilized and integrated into the public understanding about immigration. That is, the principle of equality may always remain subservient to the principle of national sovereignty unless undocumented immigrants can be successfully recast as morally deserving individuals whose rights are grounded in already well-established international norms within global governance. Park asks in Elusive Citizenship, ‘‘On what grounds can liberal nation-states deny the claim and needs of persons, who, by accident of birth, were not ‘born’ as members?’’ (11). The answer that many Americans offer as selfevident truth is often quite simple: protection of the cultural values and economic interests of those who already belong. What Park shows is that such an answer cannot be easily reconciled with the other important principle to which liberal nation-states profess commitment, that of equality. Although it may not be possible to reconcile these two competing principles, broadening the inquiry outside the domain of liberal political theory may afford opportunities for a greater understanding of why and how one principle may come to prevail over the other. Elusive Citizenship is a timely book that will speak to anyone interested in the historical and philosophical underpinnings of American immigration law, as well as those grappling with questions about citizenship and inequality.
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... irreverent, and a figure of proper femininity and chaotic femininity.30 Ismene's entrance ... have: perfect and absolute unity in collective action. Sophocles introduces this theme from ... koinon autadelphon kara Ismene, which... more
... irreverent, and a figure of proper femininity and chaotic femininity.30 Ismene's entrance ... have: perfect and absolute unity in collective action. Sophocles introduces this theme from ... koinon autadelphon kara Ismene, which translated literally is my very own sister's common head ...
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Successful democracies rely on an active citizenry. They require citizens to participate by voting, serving on juries, and running for office. But what happens when those citizens purposefully opt out of politics? Exit—the act of... more
Successful democracies rely on an active citizenry. They require citizens to participate by voting, serving on juries, and running for office. But what happens when those citizens purposefully opt out of politics? Exit—the act of leaving—is often thought of as purely instinctual, a part of the human “fight or flight” response, or, alternatively, motivated by an antiparticipatory, self-centered impulse. However, in this eye-opening book, Jennet Kirkpatrick argues that the concept of exit deserves closer scrutiny. She names and examines several examples of political withdrawal, from Thoreau decamping to Walden to slaves fleeing to the North before the Civil War. In doing so, Kirkpatrick not only explores what happens when people make the decision to remove themselves but also expands our understanding of exit as a political act, illustrating how political systems change in the aftermath of actual or threatened departure. Moreover, she reframes the decision to refuse to play along—whet...
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... irreverent, and a figure of proper femininity and chaotic femininity.30 Ismene's entrance ... have: perfect and absolute unity in collective action. Sophocles introduces this theme from ... koinon autadelphon kara Ismene, which... more
... irreverent, and a figure of proper femininity and chaotic femininity.30 Ismene's entrance ... have: perfect and absolute unity in collective action. Sophocles introduces this theme from ... koinon autadelphon kara Ismene, which translated literally is my very own sister's common head ...
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Contemporary feminist political theorists have masterfully illuminated the themes of resistance and disempowerment in Sophocles� Antigone by focusing on the fearsome clash between Antigone and Creon. The relationship between Antigone and... more
Contemporary feminist political theorists have masterfully illuminated the themes of resistance and disempowerment in Sophocles� Antigone by focusing on the fearsome clash between Antigone and Creon. The relationship between Antigone and her weaker and more cautious sister Ismene has not garnered similar attention. This paper addresses this gap by focusing on the tantalizing possibility that Ismene plays a more significant
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A prevailing theme of the scholarship on Plato&#39;s Crito has been civil disobedience, with many scholars agreeing that the Athenian Laws do not demand a slavish, authoritarian kind of obedience. While this focus on civil... more
A prevailing theme of the scholarship on Plato&#39;s Crito has been civil disobedience, with many scholars agreeing that the Athenian Laws do not demand a slavish, authoritarian kind of obedience. While this focus on civil disobedience has yielded consensus, it has left another issue in the text relatively unexplored—that is, the challenges and attractions of leaving one&#39;s homeland or of &quot; exit. &quot; Reading for exit reveals two fundamental, yet contradictory, desires in the Crito: a yearning to escape the injustice of the homeland for self-preservation and freedom (voiced by Crito) and a deep-seated need to honor one&#39;s obligations and attachments to the homeland (voiced by the Laws). By exposing the conflicted nature of leaving one&#39;s native land, Plato&#39;s Crito enriches an understanding of the meaning and consequences of an exit for the individual.
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Over fifty years ago, Albert Hirschman argued that dissatisfied consumers could either voice complaint or exit when they were dissatisfied with goods or services. Loyal consumers would voice rather than exit. Hirschman argued that making... more
Over fifty years ago, Albert Hirschman argued that dissatisfied consumers could either voice complaint or exit when they were dissatisfied with goods or services. Loyal consumers would voice rather than exit. Hirschman argued that making exit easier from publicly provided services, such as health or education, would reduce voice, taking the richest and most articulate away and this would lead to the deterioration of public services. This book provides the first thorough empirical study of these ideas. Using a modified version of ...
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:In the last thirty years, the share of nontenure-track faculty appointments in higher education has increased dramatically. According to the American Association of University Professors, 96 percent of all new faculty appointments in... more
:In the last thirty years, the share of nontenure-track faculty appointments in higher education has increased dramatically. According to the American Association of University Professors, 96 percent of all new faculty appointments in U.S. colleges and universities in 1969 were tenure-track; by the 1990s, only half of new appointments were tenure-track, and only half of these positions were full-time.
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Most contemporary political theorists who have interpreted Sophocles'Antigonehave focused on the fearsome clash between Antigone and Creon. The relationship between Antigone and her weaker, more cautious sister Ismene has not garnered... more
Most contemporary political theorists who have interpreted Sophocles'Antigonehave focused on the fearsome clash between Antigone and Creon. The relationship between Antigone and her weaker, more cautious sister Ismene has not garnered similar attention. This essay addresses this gap by revisiting the tantalizing possibility that Ismene played a more significant role in resisting Creon than has often been assumed. The essay shifts the analysis ofAntigone, first, by illuminating the complex and fraught relationship between two women and emphasizing the political and legal challenges that they face together as women. Second, the essay shifts focus from vertical power relations—that is, between the individual and government—to horizontal power relations between disempowered outsiders. On this reading,Antigonereveals less about the downfall of a character than it does about the political power of the weak and disadvantaged.
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This symposium examines an emergent orientation within the American feminist movement called “choice feminism.” Choice feminists are primarily concerned with increasing the number of choices open to women and with decreasing judgments... more
This symposium examines an emergent orientation within the American feminist movement called “choice feminism.” Choice feminists are primarily concerned with increasing the number of choices open to women and with decreasing judgments about the choices that individual women make. Choice feminists are best known for their argument that a woman who leaves the remunerated labor market to care for her children is a feminist in good standing; she makes a feminist decision. While media coverage of choice feminism has been extensive, political scientists have been comparatively quiet. In this symposium, four political scientists analyze and evaluate choice feminism, revealing their disagreement about the validity of the choice feminist position and about the meaning of choice feminism for movement politics, political judgment, and liberal political theory.
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Review of Resisting Citizenship: Feminist Essays on Politics, Community, and Democracy by Martha A. Acklesberg, Routledge, 2010
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:In the last thirty years, the share of nontenure-track faculty appointments in higher education has increased dramatically. According to the American Association of University Professors, 96 percent of all new faculty appointments in... more
:In the last thirty years, the share of nontenure-track faculty appointments in higher education has increased dramatically. According to the American Association of University Professors, 96 percent of all new faculty appointments in U.S. colleges and universities in 1969 were tenure-track; by the 1990s, only half of new appointments were tenure-track, and only half of these positions were full-time.
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:In the last thirty years, the share of nontenure-track faculty appointments in higher education has increased dramatically. According to the American Association of University Professors, 96 percent of all new faculty appointments in... more
:In the last thirty years, the share of nontenure-track faculty appointments in higher education has increased dramatically. According to the American Association of University Professors, 96 percent of all new faculty appointments in U.S. colleges and universities in 1969 were tenure-track; by the 1990s, only half of new appointments were tenure-track, and only half of these positions were full-time.
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Several recent works in political theory argue that exit, rather than being a coward's choice, is a potent mode of resistance that is particularly well suited to the current political era. These works reclaim exit, seeing it as a method... more
Several recent works in political theory argue that exit, rather than being a coward's choice, is a potent mode of resistance that is particularly well suited to the current political era. These works reclaim exit, seeing it as a method of political opposition. While innovative and illuminating, these accounts are limited because they tend to treat all exits as resistance, regardless of context or content, and they are inclined to over-saturate exit with oppositional political meaning. I argue that resistant exit should be more narrowly defined. By examining a range of empirical cases, I identify and explore three distinctive characteristics of this particular type of opposition. In addition to clarifying a recently developed idea in current scholarship, this article provides a systematic way for scholars to understand and interpret the intersection between resistance and exit.
Research Interests: Immigration, Utopian Studies, Conscientious Objection/Draft Resistance, Utopianism, Citizenship, and 13 moreExodus, Utopia, Ministerial resignations, Self-Immolation, Paolo Virno, Political protest and resistance, Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt, Zomia, Political Resistance, Maroon Societies, ROBIN COOK, Exiles, and Tibetan Self-immolation
Much of the political theory literature on Thoreau is divided, with one camp focusing on resistance and civil disobedience, while the second concentrates on withdrawal. This bifurcation is not borne out in Thoreau’s texts, and it can lead... more
Much of the political theory literature on Thoreau is divided, with one camp focusing on resistance and civil disobedience, while the second concentrates on withdrawal. This bifurcation is not borne out in Thoreau’s texts, and it can lead to a mischaracterization of Thoreau as an essentially instrumental thinker and an idiosyncratic political actor. In this article I argue against this bifurcation of withdrawal and resistance, maintaining that Thoreau’s exit was simultaneously a mode of resistance. His “resistant exit” has double political significance because it was instrumental and expressive. In addition to the change that it can produce in the individual, Thoreau’s resistant exit is consequential because the action itself symbolizes opposition.
Review of Michael J. Pfeifer, Rough Justice Lynching and American Society, 1874-1947, University of Illinois Press, 2004
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Review of Crimes of Dissent: Civil Disobedience, Criminal Justice, and the Politics of Conscience by Jarret S. Lovell, New York University Press, 2009
Review of The Future of Gender, Jude Browne, ed., Cambridge University Press, 2007 in Law and Politics Book Review, vol. 18, no. 3, 229-231
Forthcoming, review of The Political Thought of Henry David Thoreau: Privatism and the Practice of Philosophy by Jonathan McKenzie, Lexington, University of Kentucky Press, 2015
Review of Rough Justice: Lynching and American Society, 1874 – 1947 by Michael J. Pfeifer, University of Illinois Press, 2004 in Law, Culture and the Humanities
Review of Exits, Voices, and Social Investments by Keith Dowding and Peter John, Cambridge University Press, 2012
Review of Resisting Citizenship: Feminist Essays on Politics, Community, and Democracy by Martha A. Acklesberg, Routledge, 2010