The End of Sovereignty

Antonio Negri's book brings together his critical writings on the modern state, arguing that it has become a weapon in the hands of a declining ruling class and should be abolished. He distances himself from other left-wing thinkers who see the state as an unavoidable institution, and calls for the abolition of the state as a concrete utopia expressed in every thought and act of liberation.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 220 pages
Publication date: 29 July 2022
Publisher: Polity Press

Antonio Negri's book is a comprehensive collection of his critical writings on the nature and form of the modern state. The central theme that runs through these writings is the need to transcend the sovereign state, which is the particular form of political power imposed upon us by the capitalist organization of bourgeois society. Negri seeks to demonstrate how the sovereign bourgeois state, which was built during modernity, has now become a weapon in the hands of a declining ruling class. This ruling class, sometimes exhausted in its institutional expressions, can also be frenetic, zombie-like, and parafascist.

In his argument for the abolition of the state's despotic power, Negri distances himself from other left-wing thinkers who view the state as an unavoidable institution rather than a place of power that, once conquered, should be transformed and ultimately dissolved. Negri believes that the call for the abolition of the state remains vital and active today, as a concrete utopia expressed in every thought and act of liberation.

The articles included in this volume cover a range of topics, from Negri's analysis of the first great transformation of the capitalist state in the twentieth century, precipitated by the triumph of Keynesianism, to his more recent work on how the form of sovereignty changed from being a figure of transcendent and local command to being a dispositif of immanent and global control. Like its companion volumes, this collection of essays by Negri will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in radical politics and in the key social and political struggles of our time.

Weight: 268g
Dimension: 153 x 229 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781509544301