Multiplicities in Singularity. Ambivalence and Democracy in the Present Global Capitalist World.

Abstract

The dissertation focuses on the transformations on sovereignty in the neoliberal era, and a critical examination of both, democracy, through the question of plurinationality in the Spanish state, and ambivalence. The methodological approach is made through an interdisciplinary research between the disciplines of philosophy, politics, postcolonial studies, and culture. Three research questions are posed: 1. examine the existing identification between capitalism and reality, 2. acknowledge the changes in the functions of the state and democracy under neoliberalism, 3. adapt the concept of ambivalence to political and philosophical theory. The shift from biopolitics to necropolitics conceptualizes global capitalism and makes us rethink what the role and function of the nation-state is in this context. Democracy identifies with the state that functions as a mere enforcer of order. Analyzing the case of the Spanish State we will better understand this processes and changes illustrated by the plurinational reality. This specific case makes it easier for us to elaborate a critique on liberal democracy under global capital and propose alternative projects. Ambivalence is conceptualized as a powerlessness position of the subject in the crossing of neoliberalism, bare life and democracy, but also as a potentiality for resistance.

Short biography

Miguel González Cabezas (1992, Spain) is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher. He obtained his MA in CriticalStudies from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 2018 and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the same academy. He has presented himself in several solo and group exhibitions around the world. His work work explores the processes of social change, migration and power structures, as well as the politics of representation. He contributed to the book “Border Thinking: Disassembling Stories of Racialized Violence” Edited by MarinaGrzinic and published by Sternberg Press in 2018.