The seminar will start with a discussion of the current geopolitical turmoil from the angle of the combined disruptive effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic and of the Ukraine war. A critical discussion of world system theory will introduce the notion of multipolarity, while the tensions and gaps between what Giovanni Arrighi calls “territorialism” and capitalism will be analyzed from the viewpoint of a new theory of “political capitalism.” Based on such interpretation of the current transition in the capitalist world system the seminar will test the limits of mainstream approaches in geopolitics and International Relations, urging for a rethinking of internationalism along the lines of 20th century revolutionary traditions. In doing so, the seminar will be in dialogue with feminist, antiracist and postcolonial thinkers and will tackle a whole set of theoretical questions – ranging from the relation between internationalism and “cosmopolitics” to the vexed issue of the universal.

 

Preliminary bibliography : Sandro Mezzadra and Brett Neilson, The Rest and the West. Capital and Power in a Multipolar World. London – New York : Verso, 2024.

A full reading list will be provided with the syllabus before the beginning of the seminar.