Disruptive politics

摘要

The strand of political theory that emphasises disruption of existing orders has generated a great deal of praise and criticism in geography and urban studies in the past few years. In this article, I address some conflicting interpretations of this strand, and describe what I see as its potential contribution. I emphasise how this strand of disruptive politics opens up new domains of inquiry by highlighting the contingency of established ways of engaging with and making sense of the world, and how it introduces a broadened, rather than limited, understanding of politics. The potential of this strand does not lie in its prescriptive or diagnostic uses, but in this opening up of politics by including practices that elude established institutions and routines.