Politics of hope

Abstract

Amid the clouds of unpredictable change, there always seems to be a sliver of light-of hope-on the horizon. In promising something new, something better and potential change, hope encourages and engenders faith in the future. The utility of hope has not gone unnoticed in politics. Even though, or perhaps precisely because, the environmental, social and economic insecurity we see in the world today could be better described in terms of hopelessness, politics has intensified its quest for hope. In the process, it has redefined 'hope' as a strength to draw on, a counterforce and a means to achieve empowerment. This special section reflects on the contemporary politics of, in and through hope. It presents some of the discussions on the politics of hope that took place in a seminar at the University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen Business School in November 2017. The politics of hope deals in potential, in anticipated opportunities that give rise to hope, in political and legal visions as well as material and lived realities. Despite the salience of the topic, the interlinkage between politics and the heightened expectations it invests in hope has remained underresearched. The articles in this section provide multidisciplinary insights on politics that appears and functions through hope. They demonstrate how the dynamics of hope pervade a broad range of phenomena. The contributions by Eva Ottendörfer, Claes Tängh Wrangel, Valeria Guerrieri and David Chandler illustrate, respectively, that processes as diverse as transitional justice, counterterrorism measures, efforts to map energy resources and coming to terms with the Anthropocene all reflect manifestations of a (seemingly) ubiquitous hope. Through

‘An expensive commodity’? The impact of hope on US foreign policy during the ‘unipolar moment’

“…Critical reflections on hope, however, do not argue that hope is always , or even usually problematic, but rather that it can be, especially when hope convinces people to ‘persevere in search of an unobtainable end’ (Snyder, 2021: 91; see also, Krett, 2011; Lindroth and Sinevaara-Niskanen, 2019: 645). Thus, those who express caution about the virtues of hope stress that it can be positive, but only when it is grounded in a rational appraisal of what is possible; there are, as Luc Bovens (1999) notes, ‘strict constraints on the domain in which hoping is instrumentally rational’ (pp.…”

“…Critical analyses stress that while hope can exert a positive influence, it can also induce self-destructive behaviour (Bovens, 1999: 672; see also, Moellendorf, 2006: 423). Rationality is of central importance to whether hope is a positive or negative force; hoping to achieve unattainable goals is obviously irrational, but existing analyses of ‘good hope’ also highlight the need of focus on the rationality of the means as well as the goal when determining whether hope-induced action is rational (Krett, 2011; Lindroth and Sinevaara-Niskanen, 2019: 645; McGeer, 2004; Snyder, 2021: 91).…”

2020-Vision: understanding climate (in)action through the emotional lens of loss

“…Underpinning these are the notion of hope -hope that it is not too late and that something can be done about it, alongside hope that individuals can have a meaningful impact by engaging with change within their own lives. Hope is an important emotion because hope offers empowerment and faith in a better future (Lindroth & Sinevaara-Niskanen 2019) and a form of 'anticipatory consciousness' about a future of unknown possibility (Bloch 1986). Hope is especially central in attempting to mobilise action on the climate crisis because without it, the contemplation of the future is terrifying and yet 'fear' is, as we have seen, is also an important emotion required to enact change.…”

Prevention From Afar: Gendering Resilience and Sustaining Hope in Post-UNMIL Liberia

“…The multi-trust fund offers an argumentation of a complex temporality (Cavelty et al, 2015), where the international donor community discovers that the past offers little guidance and the future is radically uncertain and full of risks, thus requiring multifarious actions and long-time investment. It is 'hope' that best combines the disenchantment with the state-of-affairs of the present with the expectancy of living a better tomorrow if one keeps on exploring (Lindroth and Sinevaara-Niskanen, 2019). In Liberia, building resilient communities therefore becomes a discourse of coping with whatever comes in the present to get ready for a brighter future that never arrives.…”