This paper addresses the theoretical framework underpinning the panel. It develops a line of argument about what it means to say that the body and the self are not pre-political. It explores the shift in the unit of analysis that occurs with a reconceptualisation of the body in politics, from the liberal notion of the rational, autonomous, abstract individual to dynamic embodied intersubjective selves with agency. It engages with the obstacles presented by the dominant and dichotomous mind/body logic to furthering the understanding of the body in politics, and makes a case about what is involved in moving beyond that logic.
