Political Potentials

In the face of the cumulative crises faced by society today, politics and governance play a central role in shaping the present and grappling with an uncertain future. However, collective action, whether globally or locally, often proves difficult, as individuals and groups struggle to agree on what should be considered urgent problems and how to address them effectively. Furthermore, as humans become increasingly become aware of the limitations of our understanding and the ways that life on earth is contingent upon and shaped by innumerable entanglements, problems appear less manageable and collective action seems impossible to coordinate. These problems are embedded in technologies, systems, and relations that have evolved over long periods of time, casting lingering shadows into the present. We aim to understand these processes, both as an empirical field of study and as an area that increasingly requires evidence-based intervention and care.

Drawing inspiration from political anthropology, our research explores the conjunction between the sense of crisis and ordinary struggles for solutions. We study the contestations organizing global multiplicity, examining how people experience and understand complexity and how they navigate and manage plurality. The focus includes critical questions about resources, justice, and the outcomes of scientific revolutions that alter the environment or threaten other lifeforms. Conceptually, we highlight key tensions shaping political forms and arrangements, as individuals balance individual and collective interests while desiring security, freedom, and prosperity but also fearing threats such as environmental degradation and resource scarcity. We trace these developments and their implications for survival on an imperilled planet. Historical studies complement the investigation of contemporary dynamics by shedding light on how individuals utilize the past to shape their current political activities. We also explore how people have perceived and managed crises in the past, revealing the impact of historical developments on habitual orientations, future pathways, and established knowledge regimes. In investigating global complexities, we combine considerations of historical becoming with an examination of scalar expansion and contraction, analysing how spaces of political action are influenced by competing visions of globality and how new political potentialities emerge from real-life encounters. Additionally, we explore how judgments about what interventions are appropriate change when people confront the cumulative consequences of human activities.