The impossible community : : realizing communitarian anarchism / / John P. Clark.

• VerfasserIn: Clark, John P., 1945-
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Bloomsbury Academic,, 2013.
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Series: Contemporary Anarchist Studies
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (329 pages) :; digital, PDF file(s).
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

The Impossible Community confronts a critical moment when social and ecological catastrophe loom, the Left seems unable to articulate a response, and the Right is monopolizing public debates. This book offers a reformulation of anarchist social and political theory to develop a communitarian anarchist solution.It argues that a free and just social order requires a radical transformation of the modes of domination exercised through social ideology and institutional structures. Communitarian anarchism unites a universalist concern for social and ecological justice while recognizing the integrity and individuality of the person. In fact, anarchist principles of mutual aid and voluntary cooperation can already be seen in various contexts, from the rebuilding of New Orleans after Katrina to social movements in India.This work offers both a theoretical framework and concrete case studies to show how contemporary anarchist practice continues a long tradition of successfully synthetizing personal and communal liberation. This significant contribution will appeal not only to students in anarchism and political theory, but also to activists and anyone interested in making the world a better place.

Table of Contents

Cover; HalfTitle; Series; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; 1 Introduction:; Free community as the concrete universal; In the midst of crisis; Grounds for hope; Anarchy, solidarity, and legitimacy; The universal particular and the dialectic of modernity; Contemporary anarchist theory: Bridging the gap; In defense of dialectic; The structure of this work; 2 Critique of the Gotham Program:; 3 The third concept of liberty:; The senses of freedom; Abstract freedom; Freedom as self-determination; Agency and critical reason; Recognition and nondomination

Reconciling universality and particularityThe state and the problem of agency; A noncoercive state?; The kingdom of God was within Hegel; The free community; The community of communities; Politics and spirit; 4 Against principalities and powers:; The system of domination; Domination in contemporary liberal theory; 5 Anarchy and the dialectic of utopia:; The origins of utopia; Utopia as domination; Utopia as elitism; Utopia as escapism; Utopia as critique; Utopia of desire; The presence of utopia; Hyper(topian) text; Utopia in history; The end of utopia; The return to nowhere

6 The microecology of community:The problem of political culture; The microecology of community; Toward a community of communities; The resurgence of the affinity group; The experience of base communities; Ecocommunity or barbarism?; 7 Bridging the unbridgeable chasm:; Individual and society in anarchist thought; The political discourse of freedom and autonomy; Bookchin on classical individualist anarchism; Lifestyle anarchism as the new individualism; On consensus as disguised egoism; The role of affinity groups and primary communities; 8 Disaster anarchism:

Reclusian reflections on an unnatural disasterFacing the future; 9 The common good:; The Sarvodaya Movement in India; The Sarvodaya Shramadana movement in Sri Lanka; 10 Beyond the limits of the city:; Democracy, ecology, and community; Citizenship and self-identity; The "agent of history"; The municipality as ground of social being; The social and the political; Paideia and civic virtue; The municipalist program; Beyond the fetishism of assemblies; Municipal economics; The confederative principle; Municipalizing nature?; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index