Theoretical considerations on practical resistance

Abstract

We are facing a multitude of crises and challenges in the present which often confront us with their political mirror images: protest, activism, and other forms of resistance. From the climate crisis to the COVID pandemic, from protests against racialized or sexualized forms of violence to conflicts over the distribution of power on the global scale- activist agents and actions seem to shape our daily perception of the political. However, the praxis of resistance does not only uncover crises of our current reality, it also points beyond that reality toward a utopian future. As such, it is simultaneously a source for and an addressee of political theorizing. As phenomenon, resistance merits reflection by political theory and philosophy precisely because it represents a normatively motivated form of reconfiguration and is therefore best captured in normative forms of theorizing. Praxis and theory accordingly share an interest in casting doubt on the established narratives and are equally guided by the principles of criticizing the present, exploring the possible, and demanding the preferred. What is needed, it seems against the backdrop of past and current crises, is an open exploration of resistance with and beyond the well-rehearsed paradigmatic positions of contemporary political theory. Exploratory dialogues between theory and praxis allow for profound reflections on the problems of the past and the present and sharpen our understanding of the wrongs of this world. Our panel aims at innovatively elaborating these wrongs from theoretical and philosophical perspectives on resistance and at exploring the theoretical capacities for such a dialogue. In assembling contributions focused on practical, institutional, and theoretical forms of resistance which are dedicated to innovative twists on classics such as Marx or Adorno, to forms of protest beyond liberalism and to critical reflections on theory’s capacities to give question the very conditions of resistance, we strive to push our perspective beyond the narrow theorizing of canonical thought. We take the complex and challenging situations manifesting on the streets, in political writings or in institutional settings as an opportunity to initiate a joint reflection on the problems of the past and the present.

Title	Details
Escaping the initial conditions of political resistance with process philosophy	View Paper Details
Capitalist resistance in the democratization of business cooperations	View Paper Details
On the sense of direct action as social monads: Resisting a hopeless world as hopefuls	View Paper Details