Zone Books is pleased to announce this honor from the International Conference for the Study of Political Thought. Click here to learn more about Undoing the Demos. Click here to read the Spitz Prize selection committee’s full commendation for the book. An excerpt appears below.

“In contributing to democratic political theory as well as to an immanent critique of neoliberalism, Undoing constructively revises Foucault’s analysis of the modern subject by keeping citizens and the demos “acting in concert” in view so that we might meaningfully ask (and answer): “What effects does neoliberal rationality have on democracy, including on democratic principles, institutions, values, expressions, coalitions, and forces?” With its telling combination of unsparing critique and refusal to surrender to melancholy, this book demonstrably conjugates the perils of (neo)liberalism and the promises of democracy, the economization of everything and the possibilities of turning points for homo politicus. By accomplishing this with theoretical acumen, conceptual alacrity, and rhetorical conviction, Undoing the Demos warrants both admiration and recognition as winner of the 2017 David and Elaine Spitz Prize for the best book in liberal and/or democratic theory.”