New Normals (Asynchronous Session)
"Biopolitics", and Why the Words Matter: Towards a New Lexicon of Globalism View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Allison Vanouse
The term "biopolitics" is a seminal example of a word with strangely-wrought powers of signification. It has meaning beyond its Greek roots, and consequently functions not only as a label defining the intersection-zone between biological and political issues but also as a catchword for the basic values of liberalism, with reference to a set of ideological underpinnings developed by Michel Foucault in *The Birth of Biopolitics*, and more recently elaborated by Roberto Esposito's *Bios* and B.J. Muller in *Security, Risk and the Biometric State*, among others. This paper traces the uses of the term "biopolitics" from a lexicographer's perspective, while evaluating the functions of specific language-choice as operationalization of theory on the world stage. In the face of the global crisis wrought by COVID-19, which has highlighted ways in which real biopolitics can be sufficiently post-humanist to evade state control, is it necessary to revaluate whether we mean what we say?
The Politics of the Progressive International: Interviews and Analysis
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Daniel Benson
Officially launched during a global pandemic, the Progressive International (PI) seeks to stem the rising tide of nationalism and fascism around the globe. Recognizing the political parties do not have a monopoly on political organizing, the PI’s goal is to create a federation of progressive associations, trade unions, tenant organizations, media networks, and social and political movements of all kinds. Made up of leading political thinkers, activists, writers, and politicians, the PI has an impressive pedigree. Because it was launched in May 2020 and only recently held its first summit online in September 2020, there is very little analysis of how the PI formed, its underlying political orientation, and how it relates to previous workers or communist internationals of the nineteenth and twentieth century. My study aims to 1) contextualize the PI in terms of political and social history, and 2) discuss the project with some of the members of its Council of advisors through a series of interviews conducted in the Spring of 2021.
Globalization, Leadership, and US-China Relations in the (Post-)Pandemic World View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ji Young Choi
The essay claims that global political leadership is a necessary condition for the smooth operation of globalization and the lack of leadership at the global level is closely related to the collapse of globalization or deglobalization. It also maintains that globalization cannot be separated from states and state policies. Globalization can be accelerated when states, particularly great powers, push pro-globalization policies, but normally they have capacities to modulate the speed of globalization and restrict some of global flows when they perceive these measures are needed for their national interests. The essay argues that even way before the outbreak of COVID-19, many symptoms of the decline or crisis of globalization were detected and America’s declining global leadership was one of the major symptoms. A hegemonic competition, which was triggered by the rise of China and the US’s perceived threat, started before the pandemic, and it has become much more intense in this pandemic situation. Obviously, it is not a good sign for the future of globalization. Although a hegemonic war between the two major powers is not inevitable, historical and theoretical lessons suggest that its possibility has increased rather than decreased. Definitely, the occurrence of this hegemonic or global war will be devastating to globalization and as of now the future of globalization looks very gloomy. This essay will provide an opportunity to rethink the relationship between globalization and leadership and examine US-China relations in the (post-)pandemic world and its impact on the future of globalization.
Warfare and Diplomacy in the Development of a European Conflict: England, Castile, and Aragon in the Fourteenth Century View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gonzalo Franco Ordovas
International relations were such an important spot in the development of a global European consciousness along the Late Middle Ages. Diplomacy and warfare were the two main gears which forced the medieval kingdoms to interact between them and develop, through the excercise of violence, a global image of a common territory which could be disputed. During the fourteenth century the English and French intervention in the Iberian Peninsula introduced Aragon and Castile inside the Hundred Years' War, one of the most important episodes of European History. In fact, this episode demonstrates how globalization was developed in the European world during the Late Middle Ages. Along my intervention, I discuss how this international intervention in the Hispanic affairs was viewed by the kings of Aragon and Castile, and how they realised that their kingdoms were about to be part of something much bigger.
Global Crises and National Interdependencies: American Authoritarian Populist Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Comparative Perspective View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Benedict Edward DeDominicis
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration resumed the policy begun during the Clinton administration to transfer surplus military equipment to local US police departments during the “war on drugs.” This transfer expanded during the “war on terror” after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Obama administration prohibited the transfer of military weaponry to US police departments after a series of high-profile police killings of black men. The Trump administration rescinded the restrictions in 2017 (Edmondson 2020, para. 14). During the policing of the Black Lives Matter/George Floyd killing protests amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, law enforcement officers were reluctant to wear facial masks to prevent community transmission (Wilson 2020). Trump enthusiasts were reluctant to use face masks. Neoliberal American Gramscian hegemony tends to deny obligation for government intervention on behalf of social equity to work to redress systemic structural racism and marginalization producing Covid-19 disparities. It will otherwise self-perpetuate without state intervention which American neoliberalism as a rhetorical political discourse seeks to delegitimate. The Nixon administration pit the white working classes, both in uniform (e.g., the Ohio National Guard) and outside (working class whites) against anti-Vietnam War protestors. Trump sought to orchestrate a comparable moment by inciting a mob of his militant supporters to march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Had the Capitol police responded with significantly larger amounts of violent, lethal force, consequent national political polarization may have been comparable to the 1933 Reichstag fire in Berlin, used as a justification for Nazi dictatorial empowerment.
