Big P Politics - Theory and Practice

Introduction:

For whatever reasons of upbringing and temperament, I have always been profoundly engaged in the politics of things – the small P politics of the fields of endeavour I hae written about and been active in, but also the big P politics of nations, of state formation and change – of issues to do with how we as a species govern ourselves, historically and actually. The pieces posted on this page are of very different orders – some are older, scholarly and theoretical, but still in use; others are radio documentaries and yet another piece is a personal/poltical memoir about a crucial period in my own politicization. What they all have in common is the theme of political order – or its failures and absences – as these manifest with respect to a number of different moments and issues.

Some of these pieces are 40 years old (e.g. ‘Masculine Dominance and the State’ a scholarly historical and theoretical paper that was among the first to express how state formation over several epochs should be understood as gendered), but are in still use every day and in many different countries, if my notification service is telling me the truth – I am astounded and delighted every time it dings me. Even the newer ones on this page are nearly twenty years old (e.g. The New Imperial Order Foretold), but also still being sought out weekly by all kinds of academic readers  – my notification services is only for academic usage – in all kinds of countries. However, these pieces and most of the older one are less theoretical and written to reach broader audiences with an analysis of trends, in politics, in environment, in health, in culture – whose origins and history are very important to our ability to understand how we as a society need our governments – political parties, government apparatuses – to approach them today, so that our governmance may improve our societal behaviour on this planet and rescue ourselves and it, going forward.