Cooperation in Conflictual Times

In a recent book titled Cooperation: A Political, Economic, and Social Theory, Bernard E. Harcourt outlines a vision of a cooperative society based on worker and consumer coops and mutual aid. The current political climate, the rise of extremist parties, and the developments on university campuses seem to be pushing society toward conflict and confrontation rather than cooperation. How can we think about cooperation in these conflictual times?  

 

Bernard E. Harcourt is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and a chaired professor at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. He is the founding director of the Columbia Center for Contemporary Critical Thought (CCCCT). His most recent books, Cooperation: A Political, Economic, and Social Theory (2023) and Critique & Praxis: A Critical Philosophy of Illusions, Values, and Action (2020) attempt to reconstruct critical philosophy as a transformative political praxis. He has edited lectures and writings by Michel Foucault in French and English. Harcourt began his career representing men on Alabama’s death row, working with Bryan Stevenson at what is now the Equal Justice Initiative, in Montgomery, Alabama. In 2019, Harcourt was awarded the New York City Bar Association Norman J. Redlich Capital Defense Distinguished Service Award, a lifetime achievement award for his work on behalf of individuals on death row.