Torsten Menge

@tmenge.bsky.social

2409 Followers 2794 Following

Philosophy & political theory @NUQatar | Working on theories of power, genealogy, political community, global capitalism | https://philpeople.org/profiles/torsten-menge

As Israel continues its genocide in Gaza and genocidal violence continues to be waged against the Rohingya in Myanmar, Uyghurs in China, the people of Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen and other places, this calls for the re-examination of the basic contours of democratic theory. What are the implications for our thinking about democracy and democratic ideals when a genocide is perpetrated, in the case of Israel, by a regime
that understands itself and is understood by many to be a democracy? What does it mean when genocidal violence is supported and facilitated in one way or another by democracies? When some genocides are sidelined, minimized, or denied by democratic publics or even by left movements that appeal to democratic ideals? How should this affect our analyses of democracy, of its central commitments and tensions, its values and authority, its current crises and its futures? The goal of the workshop is to bring political philosophy and democratic theory into conversation with insights from genocide studies and other relevant fields.