Praxis in the Time of Empire

In the time of war and military occupation, it is possible for planning to articulate an ethics of disavowal and refusal. However, when empire involves much more than war, when empire also involves reconstruction, renewal, aid, and democracy, then it is much more difficult for planning to opt out of this liberal moral order. Situated at the heart of empire, that is, in America, this article explores some of these dilemmas of praxis and thereby the limits of liberalism. Drawing upon Marxist theory, cultural studies, and postcolonial critique, it makes a case for an ethics of ‘doubleness’, one where benevolence can be recognized as Othering but also where complicity can be transformed into subversion.