The 21st century has been characterized by great turbulence, climate change, a global pandemic, and democratic decay. Drawing on post-structural political theory, this book explores two dominant concepts used to make sense of our disturbed reality: the state and the network. The book explains how they are inextricably interwoven, while showing why they complicate the way we interpret our present. In seeking a better understanding of today’s world, this book argues that we need to pull apart the familiar lines of our maps. By looking beneath and across these lines, an ‘unmapping’ presents new insights and opportunities for a better future.
Author(s): Nicholas Michelsen, Neville Bolt
Edition: 1
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 165
City: Bristol
Front Cover
Unmapping the 21st Century: Between Networks and the State
Copyright information
Table of contents
List of figures
Introduction
1 Taking the Lines Off the Map
The Millionth Map
The insurgent map
2 A Great Unmapping
The cycle of forms
War and revolution
3 Capitalism and Imperialism
Masterless men
Body commerce
4 Thinking Like a State
Nation of the faithful
Unmapping jihad
5 Bureaucracy and Power
Bonfire of the vanguards
Network integration
6 The Battle Swarm
Safety nets
Revolution and persistence
7 Information and the State
Regulation and diffusion
Whose network?
8 Romance of Networks
Secrecy and faith
A climate for the state
9 Borders and Impermanence
No lines of separation
Maps to Paradise
Conclusion
Afterword
Notes
Index
Back Cover
