ABSTRACT
The New Left, participatory democrats, feminists, the Greens, and the later advocates of “civil society” and the World Social Forum: all in their different ways have raised the possibility of a new politics, no longer centred on the state but instead on everyday life. The state might be an obstacle to change, but it was nonetheless at the centre of things, structuring the space for political action and offering a focus for political campaigns. A key factor in any situation is the multiplicity of political authorities. Political authorities tend to proliferate: they command the loyalty of different groups of people on different bases. Few of them make any pretence to sovereignty in the normal sense, although some of them expect their adherents to offer them ultimate loyalty. Urbanism seems to generate its own distinctive forms of violence. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
