Sublime

While the period of this study covers the last hundred years or so, I range back in time to better understand these responses in our present moment that is characterized by three global changes: (1) the rise of non-Western powers; (2) the loss of authoritative sources of transcendence (e.g., Marxism or religion); and (3) the looming crisis of

Chapter 2, “Circulatory and Competitive Histories,” develops and illustrates the concept of circulatory histories as the basis of the critique of sovereignty in the ‘national modernization’ narrative. To be sure, narratives of the past are perhaps necessary in all collectivities that seek to constitute themselves as such. Before the modern

On the eve of the close encounter with the West, China’s distinctive political trajectory (still dominated by its symbiotic relationship with Inner Asia) propelled it not towards an all-powerful oriental despotism (imagined by Europeans) – which might have permitted drastic change in the face of external challenge – but instead still further

Derivatives: A Story of Financial and Environmental Innovation