Imaginal Politics: Images Beyond Imagination and the Imaginary

Chiara Bottici's book explores the imaginal, a space between imagination and society, and its role in shaping political and power relationships. She defines the imaginal as the root meaning in the image and its ability to characterize a public and establish activities within it. Bottici argues that the imaginal is critical for powering representative democracies and its amplification through globalization. However, the spectacularization of politics has led to its virtualization, transforming images into processes with an uncertain relationship to reality. Bottici concludes with politics seeking legitimacy through an invented ideal of tradition, a turn to religion, and the incorporation of human rights language.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 30 April 2019
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Philosophers have identified an intermediate space between our radical, creative capacity for imagination and the social imaginary we are immersed in. This space is called the imaginal, and it is filled with images or (re)presentations that possess their own presence. Chiara Bottici offers a novel and systematic understanding of the imaginal and its relationship to politics and power. By defining the difference between the imaginal and the imaginary, Bottici locates the root meaning of the imaginal in the image and its ability to both characterize a public and establish a set of activities within that public.

She emphasizes the critical role of the imaginal in powering representative democracies and its amplification through globalization. Bottici also addresses the troubling increase in images now mediating politics, leading to the transformation of politics into an empty spectacle. The spectacularization of politics has resulted in its virtualization, where images become processes with an uncertain relationship to reality. While new media has democratized the image in a global society of the spectacle, the cloned image no longer mediates politics but rather acts on our behalf.

Bottici concludes her analysis by observing the current search for legitimacy in politics, which includes a turn to religion, an invented ideal of tradition, and the incorporation of human rights language. Overall, Bottici's work provides a fresh perspective on the formation of political and power relationships and the paradox of a world rich in imagery yet seemingly devoid of imagination.

Weight: 416g
Dimension: 153 x 228 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231157797