Empire

by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt

Book Overview

Imperialism as we knew it may be no more, but Empire is alive and well. It is, as Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri demonstrate in this bold work, the new political order of globalization. It is easy to recognize the contemporary economic, cultural, and legal transformations taking place across the globe but difficult to understand them. Hardt and Negri contend that they should be seen in line with our historical understanding of Empire as a universal...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674006712
• ISBN13: 9780674006713
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Absolutely Epic

General Summary In Empire political theorists Hardt and Negri describe a new form of global sovereignty called Empire. Unlike the modernist era which privileged the nation-state as the primary site of social organization and command, Empire is distinctly postmodern and ascribes to no central source of power. In replace of central power, rallied around the nation-state, sovereignty has evolved into a diffuse network of decentered nodal points. These nodal points include multinational corporations, nation-states, NGOs, and supranational institutions, all of which simultaneously vie for political and capitalistic hegemony. Empire's evolving political logic, while frightening to the extent that it attempts to reproduce global hierarchy, is, according to Hardt and Negri, a response to a crisis in capitalism that emerged sometime after 1968. While Empire is indicative of a new global order, then, Hardt and Negri view it as "better than the forms of society and modes of production that came before it" (43). Whereas previous historical epochs relied on repressive measures such as the Fordist assembly line to regulate subjectivity and discipline behavior, Empire's modes of subjectification are increasingly decentered and fragmented. This weakness in empire- a shift corresponding with the transition from Fordism to post-Fordism- is ultimately what can allow for the multitude, the locus of all production in late capitalist society, to "enter the terrain of Empire and confront their homogenizing and heterogenizing flows in all their complexity" (46). Hardt and Negri's work, as a result, reads as the "Communist Manifesto" of the 21st century; it takes Marx and Engel's theory of historical materialism and situates it in the radically different contours of late capitalist society. Key concepts Disciplinary societies Hardt and Negri argue that the modernist era was characterized by a typology of social reproduction called disciplinary societies. In disciplinary societies "social command is constructed through a diffuse network of dispositifs or apparatuses that produce and regulate customs, habits, and productive practices" (p. 23). In disciplinary societies, then, power is consolidated in particular material localities such as the factory line, the prison, the school, and the psychiatric ward. This structuralist epistemology-- which views a transcendent outside as subjectifying an immanent inside-- corresponds with the model of ideology theorized by Marx and Engels. In Marxist theory the bourgeois is believed to be coeval with the interests of capitalism. As a result, it uses this mode of production to discipline and reproduce the immanent productive forces of the proletariat. In late capitalism, however, as Hardt and Negri argue, immanence is no longer limited to the category of the proletariat. In the era Empire, a multiplicity of subject positions have all become immanent to capitalism, a consequence that derives from the e

Still Relevant

Is this book still relevant? Many will argue that the currentUS neoconservative rampage disproves Hardt and Negri's "Empire" thesis. I disagree with that. First of all, never did H & N posit that imperialism, nationalism, patriotism had died on, say, June 5th, 1999. They did argue that the tendancy was for capitalism to reorganize itself into Empire-a dectralized globalized capitalist network that would diminish borders in such a way as to allow the smooth flow of capital globally.So we should ask ourselves if we are indeed returning to the age of "imperialism" or proceeeding toward "Empire". I would arguethat the current US neo-conservative policy is an attempt to return to imperialism, however, I believe that it is an aberration, an irregular moment in the unfolding of Empire. In imperialism, capital is organized around capitalists according to nation-states. And so you would have German capitalists, vying against French capitalists, etc. But the present day formation of capital is less and less organized around national groups as it is around transnational groups. This is not to say that there do not still exist national formations of capital (after all, we saw French captialist interests in Iraq being challenged by big oil capitalists from the US)...it is to say that global capital formations are the growing tendancy and will win out over time. So, what we are witnessing right now is very complex. We can not expect that imperialism ends one day and Empire starts the next...they will coexist for some time to come.And what about the revolutionary subject that will counter Empire? H & N call those forces, the multitudes. The notion of multitudes replaces the classical marxist notion of proleterian (in which the industrial factory worker was seen as the most revolutionary class). the multitudes includes the industrial proleteriat but it does not assign it the prominent role it once had in classical marxism. The term multitudes, as the name suggests, describes the various groups , each with its varying "desires", that counter global capitalism. Instead of a dialectical conflict betwee an proleteriat led by a so-called vanguard organization against the capitalist class, H & N project the multitudes as being composed of various groups developing life according to the diversity of their needs. This is in stark contrast to the undemocratic Vanguard Party which is "delegated" power and which decides the strategies, values and lifestyles for all that fall under its umbrella .One problem is that Negri seems to have an almost romantic notion of the multitudes; this echos some of the naive concepts earlier marxism held about the proleteriat. Whenever Negri writes aboutthe multitudes, he speaks as if they were these pure revolutionary subjects. But that is not true. The multitudescan be racist, religiously fanatic and homophobic. Given this, how can we realistically consider a stateless society. As many coming from the autonomist tra

Imagine there's no empire

"Empire" is an ambitious book. Readers who approach this work with an open mind will be rewarded with numerous insights and a keener understanding of the world in which we live.Reading the book is like being invited to listen to a dialogue between two great thinkers. One can sense the paragraphs that may have been written by the philosopher Michael Hardt from among those by the political scientist Antonio Negri. You are fascinated by the manner in which the exchange of ideas seems to create a kind of intellectual synergy, which in turn leads us to deeper and more penetrating analyses of the subject matter. It would be interesting to learn how the authors communicated with each other (Hardt is in the U.S. and Negri was in prison in Italy) to achieve this remarkable feat. The book is divided into four sections. It may be helpful to look at each individually to better undestand why opinions about this book seem to vary so widely. The first section on "Political Constitution" disscuses the characteristics of the empire dominating our postmodern world. The authors discuss the declining power of nation states and the increasing power of multinational corporations along with the institutions that regulate them (such as the IMF, UN, WTO etc.). The authors contend that the requirements of capital have created juridical norms that have literally enveloped all regions of the world, meaning that there is no longer an "outside" to the globalized capitalist regime.Importantly, the authors draw on Michel Foucault's theories to describe the transformation from the "disciplinary society" in the imperialist era to the "society of control" in the current era of globalization. The term "biopower" is used to describe how the empire's values have become internalized by the multitude, allowing control to be exercised through the self-regulating actions of individuals participating in the market economy. On the other hand, Hardt and Negri contend that biopower may hold the key to the multitude's liberation from capitalism, an idea that is introduced here but is more fully developed out later in the book. Section two on "Passages of Sovereignty" traces the rise of modernity and the state. This section has seven chapters and could almost be regarded as an excellent book-within-the-book. The topics discussed in this section include the emergence of the state and its relationship with the Enlightenment; the state's role in mobilizing citizens for capitalist production and war; the importance of slave labor to capitalism in Europe and the New World; and much more. Hardt and Negri's concept of "network power" that is embedded within the U.S. constitution was particularly interesting. The authors contend that by locating power within the productive capacity of the citizens, the U.S. is uniquely capable of projecting capitalist power world-wide. However, they contend that this power is "imperial" (but not "imperialist") in that it primarily serves the interests of capital but

Innovative and Timely Work of Radical Theory

If you are interested in theories of globalisation, imperialism, or in radical and/or marxist theory this is an essential book. A deleuzian reconception of marxist theory it might be disorienting for those unfamiliar with their work, but it deserves a close and serious reading. It is one of the most inspiring works of theory that i have read in a long time. I have to say that i am amazed by how many reactionary nuts have bothered to review this book. Negri was connected with the autonomist movement in Italy, not with the maoists. It is well known that the criminal charges were were completely baseless from an evidential standpoint, he was convicted on the basis of his radical ideas. He is currently a political prisoner in Italy. This is an important work with an influence that can only grow. It gives the possibility for new directions in how we conceive the domination of capital and the struggle against it. Revolutionary regards to the authors, I hope there is a sequel on the way.

Important New Work Of Political Theory

This dense and philosophically avant-garde tome is nonetheless passionate and compulsively readable, I found that I could not put it down after I picked it up. Even more remarkable is the facility with which Negri and Hardt facilitate both the history of the west and our contemporary postmodern terrain. Their central thesis is that the form of sovereignity that has characterized modernity is ending and that that there is a new form of sovereignity forming which they term 'Empire'. In doing this they examine Machiavelli, Spinoza, the founders of the U.S. political system, Marx, Althusser, Foucault, Deleuze, Bill Gates and many others in creative blend of materialism, history, radical politics and philosophy. The criticisms of post-structuralist and postcolonial theory are especially timely. If you are tired of coventional liberal politics try this book headlined by Italy's most famous living philosopher and political prisoner - Toni Negri.