ABSTRACT
The main aim of this collection of essays is to provide English readers with a critical update on current debates on biopolitics in and around Italian thought. More than a decade after the publication of seminal books such as Agamben’s Homo Sacer and Hardt and Negri’s Empire the contemporary scene is incredibly more complex than is usually assumed. On the one hand, the works of these prolific authors continue to be translated at an incredible rate and still stand firmly at the centre of most discussions concerning the redefinition of radical international thought at the time of an alleged global “War on terror,” the concomitant identification of a new figure of enmity, but also the resurgence of a “communist hypothesis” that resists such an ideology. On the other hand, several new names have recently been brought to the attention of anglophone scholars and political activists: in the last few years, major American and British publishing houses have released volumes by thinkers such as Esposito, Virno, Marazzi, and Fumagalli.
