Politics and Suicide:  The philosophy of political self-destruction

Nicholas Michelsen

doi:10.4324/9781315673349

Politics and Suicide: The philosophy of political self-destruction

Nicholas Michelsen

War Studies

Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Politics and Suicide argues that whilst the historical lineage of suicidal politics is recognised, the fundamental significance of autodestruction to the political remains under examined. It contends that practices like suicide-bombing do not simply embody a strange or abnormal ‘suicidal’ articulation of the political, but rather, that the existence of suicidal politics tells us something fundamental about the political as such and thinking about political violence more broadly.Recent world events have emphatically shown our need for tools with which to develop better understandings of the politics of suicide. Through the exploration of several arresting case-studies, including the ‘Kamikaze’ bombers of World War Two, Jan Palach’s self-immolation in 1969, Cold War nuclear deterrence, and the suicide-terrorist attacks of 9/11 Michelsen asks how we might talk of a political suicide in any of these contexts. The book charts how political processes ‘go suicidal’, and asks how we might still consider them to be political in such a case. It investigates how suicide can function as ‘politics’.A strong contribution to the fields of philosophy and international relations theory, this work will also be of interest to students and scholars of political theory and terrorism & political violence.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	London
Publisher	Routledge
Number of pages	206
ISBN (Electronic)	9781315673349
ISBN (Print)	9781138942103, 9780815377535
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315673349
Publication status	Published - 26 Oct 2015

Publication series

Name	Interventions
Publisher	Routledge

Keywords

Suicide
Politics and government
Political violence
International relations
Self-immolation
Political philosophy
Hunger strikes
Mass suicide
Suicide bombings
Nuclear deterrence
Cold War
Terrorism

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.4324/9781315673349

Cite this

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title = "Politics and Suicide: The philosophy of political self-destruction",

abstract = "Politics and Suicide argues that whilst the historical lineage of suicidal politics is recognised, the fundamental significance of autodestruction to the political remains under examined. It contends that practices like suicide-bombing do not simply embody a strange or abnormal {\textquoteleft}suicidal{\textquoteright} articulation of the political, but rather, that the existence of suicidal politics tells us something fundamental about the political as such and thinking about political violence more broadly.Recent world events have emphatically shown our need for tools with which to develop better understandings of the politics of suicide. Through the exploration of several arresting case-studies, including the {\textquoteleft}Kamikaze{\textquoteright} bombers of World War Two, Jan Palach{\textquoteright}s self-immolation in 1969, Cold War nuclear deterrence, and the suicide-terrorist attacks of 9/11 Michelsen asks how we might talk of a political suicide in any of these contexts. The book charts how political processes {\textquoteleft}go suicidal{\textquoteright}, and asks how we might still consider them to be political in such a case. It investigates how suicide can function as {\textquoteleft}politics{\textquoteright}.A strong contribution to the fields of philosophy and international relations theory, this work will also be of interest to students and scholars of political theory and terrorism & political violence.",

keywords = "Suicide, Politics and government, Political violence, International relations, Self-immolation, Political philosophy, Hunger strikes, Mass suicide, Suicide bombings, Nuclear deterrence, Cold War, Terrorism",

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AB - Politics and Suicide argues that whilst the historical lineage of suicidal politics is recognised, the fundamental significance of autodestruction to the political remains under examined. It contends that practices like suicide-bombing do not simply embody a strange or abnormal ‘suicidal’ articulation of the political, but rather, that the existence of suicidal politics tells us something fundamental about the political as such and thinking about political violence more broadly.Recent world events have emphatically shown our need for tools with which to develop better understandings of the politics of suicide. Through the exploration of several arresting case-studies, including the ‘Kamikaze’ bombers of World War Two, Jan Palach’s self-immolation in 1969, Cold War nuclear deterrence, and the suicide-terrorist attacks of 9/11 Michelsen asks how we might talk of a political suicide in any of these contexts. The book charts how political processes ‘go suicidal’, and asks how we might still consider them to be political in such a case. It investigates how suicide can function as ‘politics’.A strong contribution to the fields of philosophy and international relations theory, this work will also be of interest to students and scholars of political theory and terrorism & political violence.

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