3. New Lefts—enrichment and fragmentation

In the second half of the twentieth century, new movements grew up that were not necessarily socialist but inspired by new intellectual influences combined with older traditions, such as more humanistic interpretations of Marxism. ‘New Lefts—enrichment and fragmentation’ focuses on two manifestations of the New Left, feminism, and green socialism, both of which questioned the dominant forms and structures of socialist groups. More recent developments include the recognition of intersectionality, which poses other challenges, and uprisings such as the Occupy movement and climate change activism, both of which recognize capitalism as a primary driver of inequality and climate change.

US Imperialism and the Problem of “Culture” in Indigenous Politics: Towards Indigenous Internationalist Feminism

This article aims to articulate a political formation that I term Indigenous internationalist feminism, which centers a critique of US imperialism and is premised on three intellectual and political traditions: radical Indigenous internationalism, Black left feminism, and queer Indigenous feminism. Indigenous internationalist feminism provides a framework for transnational Indigenous practices that seek to build counterhegemonic power with other anticolonial, anti-imperial, and anti-capitalist liberation struggles, both within and outside of the United States. At the center of these practices is an ethics of expansive relationality between humans, and between humans and our other-than-human kin.

In Search of a New Ideology

The chapter shows that despite the adoption of Western norms in the official sphere, the populist criticism of this pro-European trajectory with its concomitant economic and administrative policies became increasingly central to domestic politics. The “culture wars” erupting in the late 1990s and early 2000s were rooted in the radicalization of conservativism, questioning the legitimacy of post-transition regimes. In turn, the left also underwent a profound reconfiguration, with the mainstream post-communists becoming fervent advocates of liberalization and the emerging new left, feminism, and environmentalism becoming increasingly anti-liberal. The book closes with an overview of the symbolic geographical debates on Europeanness, and also registers the growth of Euroskepticism after 2000. Critically engaging with the application of postcolonial theory in discussions on the region’s relationship to the West it also points to the cyclical occurrences of discourses on “catching up” and alienation which seem to indicate a longue durée regional pattern.

Hawk in the Cold War Twilight

Chapter 3 considers Jeane Kirkpatrick’s influence during the early 1980s as the first woman ambassador from the United States to the United Nations. Kirkpatrick built a reputation as an outspoken diplomat with a visceral belief in America’s greatness. She supported a muscular but prudent defense of US interests well before her cabinet appointment. As the only woman in President Ronald Reagan’s initial cabinet, Kirkpatrick helped to ensure that the foreign policy directions of his first presidency reflected her views. Critical of left feminism prior to her time in executive office, Kirkpatrick served a Republican administration that won office thanks to support from an electorate that held similar views.