"Anti-Democracy Agenda" now online

Please circulate widely! Blog about it! etc.

In January 2009, I started this blog – now called "Erich Kofmel Himself" – and a blog on political theology, now called the "Political Theology Agenda".

From the outset both these blogs bore the logo of the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS). The renaming of the blogs at the end of last year was part of an improved online strategy of SCIS, which also includes the addition of a third blog in January 2010.

That new blog is called the "Anti-Democracy Agenda":

www.anti-democracy-agenda.blogspot.com

Description: "Conferences, Books, Articles, Trends: The Anti-Democracy Agenda is run by the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS) in order to serve as a focal point and the premier resource on the net for the study of anti-democratic thought and practice as well as old and new alternatives to democracy. It wishes to facilitate the exchange on anti-democratic thought and practice across boundaries, be they disciplinary, ideological, national, cultural, generational, philosophical, religious (or non-religious), etc. By disseminating information on research, publications, and events, it hopes to increase awareness of the various traditions and current trends, and raise the academic and public profile of anti-democratic thought and practice worldwide."

Already, there are almost thirty posts on the Anti-Democracy Agenda. Namely, those posts on anti-democratic thought made here during 2009 and around twenty new posts introducing in detail scholarly resources (books, articles, and so on) for the study of anti-democratic thought and practice. In future, I may continue to post personal comments on anti-democratic developments here, while posting more objective news on the Anti-Democracy Agenda. (Where I will of course also provide links to posts made here.)

The Political Theology Agenda too seems finally to get properly indexed by Google and now holds top spots for "political theology" searches on Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Throughout 2009, it accrued 75 posts, of which 31 during November and December 2009. I expect the number of posts in 2010 to be significantly higher, in line with the increasing number of people working on issues of political theology/-ies in all conceivable academic disciplines and the scholarly in- and outputs to be expected from this.

Just as I knew last year that the time had come for the Political Theology Agenda – the field had grown enough since 2006 to sustain such a blog –, the number and quality of posts on anti-democratic thought and alternatives to democracy I made here, the new publications and developments to be commented on in 2009 convinced me that the time had come for the Anti-Democracy Agenda. It will be sustained by things to come.

The term "Agenda" indicates the rationale of both blogs (and such further Agendas as SCIS may see fit to start in the future): originating from Latin, it means that "which ought to be done", a working programme – doing, acting, making. A list of matters to be worked on, to be taken up, to be contributed to. Notably, a schedule of events and readings, and a research agenda around which to coalesce.

These Agendas give visibility to novel areas of research, provide a focal point to informal networks of scholars (both at universities and independent) and people all around the world and from various backgrounds that may not know each other now and maybe never get to know one another. They provide resources, all in one place, for the benefit of those who come newly to the field or are just curious. They are an invitation to participate.

The time has come to give that kind of focus to the research agenda on anti-democratic thought and practice.

Feel free to leave a comment or contact me.