How might we see world affairs if we started with people, families, and communities instead of presidents, governments, and militaries? After all, it is people who make up cities, states, and corporations, and it is their beliefs and behaviors that explain why some parts of the world seem so peaceful while others appear so violent, why some societies are so rich while others are so poor. This unique look at contemporary global politics begins with people, treating them as social individuals with free will and human agency even as they are limited and disciplined by rules and rulers. Placing people in the center of their analysis instead of states, this dynamic team of authors trades perspectives with each other and with such eminent social theorists as Michel Foucault and Hannah Arendt to develop their resonant theme. Offering both practical examples and theoretical frameworks, T-treault and Lipschutz show us how we can take charge of our lives and the politics that affect them, even in the context of a vast global economy and impersonal international forces that sometimes seem out of control. Filled with idealism, yet firmly grounded in contemporary realities, Global Politics as if People Mattered offers a fresh take on our proper place in the world-front and center, actively engaged in a way of life that is as politically personal as it is politically powerful. Helping each of us, alone and together, to carve out our own political space in the contemporary global order is a major aim of this innovative and inspiring book.

Author Biography

Mary Ann Tetreault is the Una Chapman Cox Distinguished Professor of International Affairs at Trinity University. Ronnie D. Lipschutz is professor of politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.