Citizens of Nowhere

Citizens of Nowhere challenges Teresa May’s infamous phrase about citizens of the world to instead give a radically different account of contemporary European politics than is usually found in the media: one that is focused on the many initiatives, organisations and campaigns led by citizens across the continent. It argues that contrary to the stereotypes of detached elites, we have all become much more citizens of the world, concerned about global issues and aware of the interconnectedness of our societies - but we lack the democratic agency to affect change on a global scale. Only through new forms of action across borders will really be able to take democratic control of our futures.

This book launch will discuss the UK's relationship to the European Union in the wider context of recent changes in European politics, and in the structure of European societies, with a focus on citizens and their capacity for bringing about change.

By placing the Brexit debate in this larger context, and focusing on the democratic agency of citizens, the discussion can play an important role in advocating for UK citizens alarmed by the consequences of the Brexit vote to see themselves as part of a larger struggle for democracy and meaningful citizenship in the context of globalisation.

Niccolo Milanese is co-founder of the civil society organisation European Alternatives and is a poet and a philosopher. He has been involved in the founding of numerous political and cultural organisations, magazines and initiatives on several sides of the Mediterranean, and in campaigning for a more influential and radical civil society voice within the EU institutions.

Mary Kaldor is a Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit in the LSE Department of International Development. Professor Kaldor also directs the unit’s largest research project, the Conflict Research Programme (CRP), an international DFID-funded partnership investigating public authority, through a theoretical lens of the political marketplace and the concept of civicness, across a range of countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Dr Luke Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics at Anglia Ruskin University and a board member of the campaign group Another Europe Is Possible.

Maya Goodfellow is a writer, researcher and graduate teaching assistant at SOAS. She has written for The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Independent, Media Diversified and others. Her work mostly focuses on politics, immigration, gender and race.

Daniel Trilling is editor of New Humanist and author of Lights in the Distance: Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe (Picador 2018).

Hilary Wainwright is a British sociologist, and a founding member and co-editor of Red Pepper magazine.

The Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit (CCS) is based in the Department of International Development and works in understanding conflict and violence in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, bridging the gap between citizens and policymakers.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSE_CITIZENS