(Utopias at the Beginning of the 21st Century? Forms and Functions of the Utopian)

Utopian thinking is not easy these days. While the prevailing neo-liberal center insists that there is no alternative to ever-increasing competition and personal responsibility, the authoritarian right is cultivating a mood of wistful nostalgia for what were supposedly the good old days and the myth of close-knit folk communities. Despite these circumstances however, recent years have witnessed the emergence of more and more social movements calling, for example, for System Change, not Climate Change!, for open borders, or for a right to urban life or feminist futures. What role do utopias play in these movements, and what might a utopian offensive look like in the 21st century?

Alexander Neupert-Doppler is a political scientist and philosopher. His book on Staatsfetischismus was published in 2013, followed by Utopie in 2015 and Konkrete Utopien in 2018. His most recent publication, Die Gelegenheit ergreifen – Eine politische Philosophie des Kairós (2019), looks at crises as windows of opportunity in which criticism can become practical and utopias political.