Andreas Oberprantacher

Inter-Actions that Matter: An Arendtian Approach to Elicitive Conflict Transformation

While the term ‘transrational’ has been discussed in detail by Wolfgang Dietrich in a number of his publications that received considerable attention over the past decade, the term ‘elicitive’ retains a strange vagueness to this day. This chapter presents an investigation to what extent an Arendtian approach could be practical to further refine the paradigm of elicitive conflict transformation in theoretical terms. More than any other book authored by Arendt, it is foremost The Human Condition that offers a variety of relevant arguments of how to make sense of our conflicted situations without recurring to a ‘prescriptive model’ of human interactions. Accordingly, it is argued that Arendt favors, at least between the lines, an elicitive approach that is compatible with that discussion set in motion by Dietrich.

Introducing a Contorted Subject Called ‘Subjectivation’

‘Subjectivation’ is one of the most relevant key words in political theory. It reflects the becoming, agency, and significance of political subjects, especially with respect to the ‘idea’ of autonomous subjectivity and the ‘reality’ of heteronomous subjection. Even though this key word figures prominently in a variety of current discourses, there is no systematic overview to date of its complicated history or present connotations. Oberprantacher and Siclodi respond to this scholarly demand by providing a comprehensive synopsis of the term’s genealogy in consideration of its contemporary ambivalences and the question of translation. Apart from that, this chapter introduces also the book ‘Subjectivation in Political Theory and Contemporary Practices’ in general terms by outlining its structure as well as the four major parts.

Radical Democratic Disobedience: ‘Illegals’ as a Litigious Political Subject

This chapter traces various acts of radical democratic disobedience on the part of people who are commonly disqualified as ‘illegals’. To begin with, Oberprantacher addresses a few basic doubts in terms of the initial premise: to what extent can one speak of ‘illegals’, bearing in mind the risk of discursively consolidating discriminatory approaches? Moreover, he critically investigates some of the arguments that are currently generating extremely ambivalent images of the situation of people who are governed as ‘illegals’, be it as ‘helpless victims’ or as ‘cunning criminals’. In the final part, he more broadly responds to the question of what it amounts to when ‘illegals’ are subjectivating themselves and making themselves count as a litigious political subject of a democracy to come.