Democracy and Empire: Labor, Nature, and the Reproduction of Capitalism

Democracy and Empire theorizes the material basis of popular sovereignty via the Black radical tradition. Popular sovereignty contains an affective attachment to wealth, secured through collective agreements to dominate others, i.e., self-and-other-determination. Inés Valdez expands on racial capitalism by theorizing its Anglo-European-based popular politics, which authorize capital accumulation enabled by empire and legitimated by racial ideologies. This stunts political projects in the Gl...