Reimagining the state : theoretical challenges and transformative possibilities / edited by Davina Cooper, Nikita Dhawan and Janet Newman.

Includes bibliographic references.

Introduction / Davina Cooper -- The political work of reimagination / Janet Newman -- Reimagining the state: Marxism, feminism, postcolonialism / Shirin Rai -- State as pharmakon / Nikita Dhawan -- Why Africa's "weak states" matter: a postcolonial critique of Euro-Western discourse on African statehood and sovereignty / Anna Maria Kraemer -- Christian Israel / Didi Herman -- The ethical state? / Mar�ia do Mar Castro Varela -- Using the master's tools: rights and radical politics / Ruth Kinna -- Anticipatory representation: thinking art and museums as platforms of resourceful statecraft / Chiara De Cesari -- Conceptual prefiguration and municipal radicalism: reimagining what it could mean to be a state / Davina Cooper -- Regulating with social justice in mind: an experiment in re-imagining the state / Morag McDermont -- Harmful thoughts: reimagining the coercive state / John Clarke -- Border abolition and how to achieve it / Nick Gill -- Refusal first, then re-imagination: presenting the burn in flames post-patriarchal archive in circulation / Sarah Browne, Jesse Jones -- Conclusion / Janet Newman and Nikita Dhawan.

"This book examines what value if any, the state has for the pursuit of progressive politics; and how it might need to be re-thought or reimagined to deliver transformative change. Is it possible to reimagine the state in ways that open up projects of political transformation? This interdisciplinary collection provides alternative perspectives to the 'antistatism' of much critical writing and contemporary political movement activism. Contributors explore ways of reimagining the state that attend critically to the capitalist, neoliberal, gendered and racist conditions of contemporary polities, yet seek to hold onto the state in the process. Drawing on postcolonial, poststructuralist, feminist, queer, Marxist, and anarchist thinking, they consider how states might be reread and reclaimed for radical politics. At the heart of this book is state plasticity - the capacity of the state conceptually and materially to take different forms. This plasticity is central to transformational thinking and practice, and to the conditions and labour that allow it to take place. But what can reimagining do; and what difficulties does it confront? This book will appeal to academics and research students concerned with critical and transformative approaches to state theory, particularly in governance studies, politics and political theory, socio-legal studies, international relations, geography, gender/sexuality, cultural studies and anthropology" -- Provided by publisher.