Politics of Fear, Practices of Hope

Fear and hope are two hugely influential ideas in political life; here Stefan Skrimshire examines their relationship at a time where interest has exploded in the quasi-religious themes of apocalyptic protest and utopian politics.This book is about the relationship between two hugely influential ideas in political life: fear and hope. In distinction to a growing literature already grappling with these ideas, this book argues that responses to a politics of fear have coincided with an explosion of interest in the quasi-religious themes of apocalyptic protest and utopian politics in both scholarly interest and cultural and political life. As such, it makes a timely contribution to the rapidly growing study into the re-surfacing of religious reasons in our 'post secular' political culture.Whilst recent scholarly studies have drawn attention to the re-emergence of theological questions of, for example, political sovereignty; attitudes towards the body; universality; and transcendence, this book argues in addition that the subject of political orientations of the future should also be taken seriously, where political thought is engaged with theological themes such as eschatology, apocalypse and utopia, in order to generate resources for hope. In recent years the study of the nature and function of religion with respect to politics has seen enormous changes. This important series provides a range of books devoted to furthering this study, and aimed at those studying and researching in this area across both disciplines.Titles in this series look specifically at the relationship between religion and political culture. Drawing upon a broad range of religious perspectives, the series is open for studies of historical as well as current phenomena in political culture. It seeks not only to inform but to provoke debate at a time when religion is gaining increasing prominence in the public realm.