Christine Hobden

Revisits the work of Rick Turner, a South African political theorist, and addresses contemporary debates Rick Turner was a South African academic and anti-apartheid activist who rebelled against the apartheid state at the height of its power. For this he was assassinated in 1978, at just 32 years of age, but his life and work are testimony to the power of philosophical thinking for humans everywhere. Turner chose to live freely in an unfree time and argued for a non-racial, socialist future in a context where this seemed unimaginable. This book takes seriously Rick Turner's challenge that political theorising requires thinking in a utopian way. Turner's seminal book The Eye of the Need: Towards a Participatory Democracy laid out some of his most potent ideas on a radically different political and economic system. His demand was that we work to escape the limiting ideas of the present, carefully design a just future based on shared human values, and act to make it a reality, both politically and in our daily lives. The contributors to this volume engage critically with Turner's work on race relations, his relationship with Steve Biko, his views on religion, education and gender oppression, his participatory model of democracy, and his critique of enduring forms of poverty and economic inequality. They show how, in his life and work, Turner modeled how we can dare to be free and how hope can return, as the future always remains open to human construction. This book makes an important contribution to contemporary thinking and activism where the need for South Africans to define their understanding of their greater common good is of crucial importance.

Revisits the work of Rick Turner, a South African political theorist, and addresses contemporary debates Rick Turner was a South African academic and anti-apartheid activist who rebelled against the apartheid state at the height of its power. For this he was assassinated in 1978, at just 32 years of age, but his life and work are testimony to the power of philosophical thinking for humans everywhere. Turner chose to live freely in an unfree time and argued for a non-racial, socialist future in a context where this seemed unimaginable. This book takes seriously Rick Turner's challenge that political theorising requires thinking in a utopian way. Turner's seminal book The Eye of the Need: Towards a Participatory Democracy laid out some of his most potent ideas on a radically different political and economic system. His demand was that we work to escape the limiting ideas of the present, carefully design a just future based on shared human values, and act to make it a reality, both politically and in our daily lives. The contributors to this volume engage critically with Turner's work on race relations, his relationship with Steve Biko, his views on religion, education and gender oppression, his participatory model of democracy, and his critique of enduring forms of poverty and economic inequality. They show how, in his life and work, Turner modeled how we can dare to be free and how hope can return, as the future always remains open to human construction. This book makes an important contribution to contemporary thinking and activism where the need for South Africans to define their understanding of their greater common good is of crucial importance.

What does it mean to be a citizen of a democracy today? This book challenges us to re- evaluate and ultimately reorient our state- based conception of democratic citizenship in order to meaningfully account for the context in which it is lived: a globalised, deeply interconnected, and deeply unjust world.Hobden argues for a new conception of citizenship that is state- based, but globally oriented. The book presents a new account of collective responsibility that includes responsibility for a wider range of collective outcomes.Drawing upon this account, Hobden argues that citizens can be held collectively morally responsible for the acts of their state, both domestically and internationally.The book explores how this conception of citizenship, with its attendant collective responsibility, can speak to citizens of today: those experiencing the costs of inequality and oppression; those living under semi- and newly democratic regimes; and those living as non- citizen residents. It encouragesan active citizenship and presents innovative channels of participation, with discussions on civic education in the media and political consumerism.Offering a new lens on citizenship in a global context, this book will be of great interest to scholars and students of political theory, global justice, citizenship, democratic theory, and collective responsibility.

What does it mean to be a citizen of a democracy today? This book challenges us to re- evaluate and ultimately reorient our state- based conception of democratic citizenship in order to meaningfully account for the context in which it is lived: a globalised, deeply interconnected, and deeply unjust world.Hobden argues for a new conception of citizenship that is state- based, but globally oriented. The book presents a new account of collective responsibility that includes responsibility for a wider range of collective outcomes.Drawing upon this account, Hobden argues that citizens can be held collectively morally responsible for the acts of their state, both domestically and internationally.The book explores how this conception of citizenship, with its attendant collective responsibility, can speak to citizens of today: those experiencing the costs of inequality and oppression; those living under semi- and newly democratic regimes; and those living as non- citizen residents. It encouragesan active citizenship and presents innovative channels of participation, with discussions on civic education in the media and political consumerism.Offering a new lens on citizenship in a global context, this book will be of great interest to scholars and students of political theory, global justice, citizenship, democratic theory, and collective responsibility.