Introduction

For proponents of emancipatory social and political transformation, democratic politics is currently characterized by profound disappointment, even despair, over the lack of viable political alternatives (Brown 2015, 220–22; Corey 2005; Sokoloff 2017). The increasing influence of right-wing populist parties and factions, deep global socio-economic inequalities, the continued disenfranchisement of already marginalized groups, and the growing climate emergency leave little space for hope. While forces of political resistance are mobilizing for change, they seem unable to shake the status quo. In the wake of the failed 20th-century projects of revolutionary transformation, the affective landscape of progressive politics is characterized by a sapping of revolutionary energies and a narrowing of utopian possibilities. In the face of this despairing landscape, it has become more necessary than ever to relearn hope and rekindle our sense of freedom and revolutionary possibility in the absence of utopian visions that have sustained us in the past.