Temporal Politics: Contested Pasts, Uncertain Futures

Adrian Little demonstrates how different conceptions of past, present and future contribute to the nature of political conflict in the world today. Reacting against narratives of political disillusionment and apathy, he focuses on how a new understanding of political temporality can inform our approach to political problems. He forms his argument around three major cases in which the nature of past, present and future is contested: Indigenous politics in settler colonies; the politics of bordering and migration; and debates over the future of democracy.

Adrian Little is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Melbourne. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in recognition of his research in areas including political theory, democratic politics, Indigenous-settler relations and the politics of Northern Ireland. Previous books include Enduring Conflict (Bloomsbury, 2014), Democratic Piety (Edinburgh University Press, 2008), Democracy and Northern Ireland (Palgrave, 2004) and The Politics of Community (Edinburgh University Press, 2002).