Contents: Introduction: the promise of political anthropology Harald Wydra and Bjørn Thomassen PART I OLD AND NEW PARADIGMS 1. Recovering the classical foundations of political anthropology Arpad Szakolczai 2. On the mimetic turn in the social sciences Roberto Farneti 3. Charisma/trickster: on the twofold nature of power Agnes Horvath 4. Contemporary political stakes: after-lives of the modern Paul Rabinow and Anthony Stavrianakis 5. Political anthropology: biology, culture, and ethics Gabriele De Anna and Christian Illies 6. Cultural intimacy and the politics of civility Michael Herzfeld PART II ANTHRO-POLITICS IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD 7. Politics and the permanence of the sacred Paul Dumouchel 8. Anthropology and the enigma of the state Finn Stepputat and Monique Nuijten 9. Liminality and the politics of the transitional Maria Mälksoo 10. The anthropology of political revolutions Bjørn Thomassen 11. Comparative political analysis and the interpretation of meaning Jean-Pascal Daloz 12. Anthropology and political ideology Sune Haugbolle 13. Post-neoliberalism? Keir Martin 14. The political and the religious: on the making of virtuous politics Simon Coleman PART III ETHNOGRAPHIES OF THE POLITICAL 15. The politics of development: anthropological perspectives Jeremy Gould and Eija Ranta 16. Ethnographies of power Jan Kubik 17. Postdemocracy and a politics of prefiguration Nicholas J. Long 18. Feminist theory and reproduction Megan Moodie 19. New war zones or evolving modes of insurgency warfare? Morten Bøås 20. The political anthropology of borders and territory: European perspectives Hastings Donnan, Bjørn Thomassen and Harald Wydra 21. The politics of movement and migration Parvathi Raman PART IV PROCESSES 22. Security, securitization, desecuritization: how security produces insecurity John Gledhill 23. Nature, politics, and climate change Mette Fog Olwig 24. The fall and rise of class Andrew Sanchez 25. The politics of ethno-religious violence Madurika Rasaratnam 26. The anthropology of crime Henrik Vigh and David Sausdal 27. Globalization Thomas Hylland Eriksen Index

'This wide-ranging collection challenges disciplinary boundaries to demonstrate the relevance of political anthropology to both old and new audiences. It offers refreshing takes on core anthropological themes and links classical theory to the quintessential questions of political life today in a compelling manner useful to diverse scholars, students, and practitioners.' --Sara Shneiderman, University of British Columbia, Canada