Ontopolitics in the Anthropocene

David Chandler is Professor of International Relations, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Westminster, UK, and editor of the journal Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discourses.

• Part One – Introduction 1. Introduction: Affirming the Anthropocene Part Two: Mapping 2. After Neoliberalism: Mapping Assemblages 3. From the ‘Black Box’ to the ‘Great Outdoors’ Part Three: Sensing 4. The Rise of the Correlational Machine 5. Big Data Sensing Part Four: Hacking 6. From Sensing to Hacking 7. Hacking as Sympoiesis Part Five: Stakes 8. Ontopolitics and Critique 9. Conclusion

"If the Anthropocene is to be understood as a condition of malaise, as David Chandler suggests in this sophisticated theoretical engagement with contemporary ontopolitics, it necessarily needs new modes of governance. While mapping and sensing might be understood as modern methods, the promise of hacking and digital activism hold out possibilities for acting that deserve much more attention in the world of new rapidly changing urban vulnerabilities. This volume, by one of the key current philosophers of resilience, offers a preliminary ‘must be read’ guide to these emerging political potentialities in the ruins of neoliberalism."—Simon Dalby, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Canada"How is it possible that the new metaphysicians of the Anthropocene have greeted the threat of planetary extinction with such affirmation? This is the stirring question that drives Chandler’s book. Bringing together policy questions in international relations with contemporary new materialisms, Chandler takes us beyond the entanglements of ticks, slime molds, and ocean currents to ask about the Anthropocene’s ontopolitical claims and the postmodern modes of governance they affirm. The result is a stunning exposure of the pragmatic and philosophical stakes of our current condition and an urgent call to contest the affirmative ontopolitics of the Anthropocene. A must read!"—Lynne Huffer, Emory University, USA"...Chandler's Ontopolitics of the Anthropocene is one of the most important pieces of analytical scholarship to come out the academy in years. It provides a new framework for understanding the world that is taking shape. Following the human own-goal of the Anthropocene, we are now suborned to let the world govern and guide us. The new orthodoxy celebrates the demise of linear causality and with it conventional modes of knowing and governing. Open to its contributions, Chandler provides an eloquent and penetrating analysis of its limits. He warns of the potential intellectual sterility of the ontopolitical alternatives it entails. Everyone should heed Chandler's urgent call to critically dissect the governing discourse of the Anthropocene and the relation to the world it creates."—Mark Duffield, University of Bristol, UK"Chandler throws himself headlong into the global tempest of our eponymous era. What comes out the other side is a challenging and vital engagement with the Anthropocene that calls on International Relations to pay attention to the world beyond the narrow confines of our geopolitically charged, species narcissism. A must read for those of us beginning to take notice."—Jairus Grove, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, USA"Ontopolitics in the Anthropocene is the culmination of David Chandler’s long-running engagement with contemporary transformations in social and environmental governance. This book is essential reading for anybody interested in understanding novel practices of rule and how they shape and constrain possibilities for critical thought. As he carefully details how a post-humanist "affirmation of the Anthropocene" straightjackets our political imaginary, Chandler challenges readers to reinvent what critique might become today."—Kevin Grove, Florida International University, USA