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Julie E. Cooper

Senior Lecturer, Political Science Department at Tel Aviv University

Resident at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften:

January–February 2020

Research topic at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften:

»Politics Without Sovereignty? Exile, State, and Territory in Jewish Thought«

Project outline:

Sovereignty remains one of the most contested political issues of our time. Global transformations – including unprecedented levels of migration, the rise of non-state actors, transnational capital flows, human rights regimes, European integration and, subsequently, Brexit – have led scholars to debate whether sovereignty’s salience has waned and, if so, whether it is necessary to envision alternative modes of political community. In this book project, I will join these controversies by recovering debates among modern Jewish nationalists (focusing primarily on the period from 1918-1937) about the respective merits of sovereign and non-sovereign modes of political community. These debates (among Zionists, Bundists, Autonomists, etc.) constitute one of the richest nodes of theoretical reflection on sovereignty in modern Jewish thought and, arguably, within modern political thought more generally. Combining methods from intellectual history, Jewish studies, and political theory, the book will offer a historically informed account of the possibilities and perils of politics without sovereignty. My ultimate goal is to develop a theoretical framework that can illuminate contemporary debates, both Jewish and non-Jewish, about the political regimes best suited to advance democratic self-government. (Julie E. Cooper)

Research partner:

Julie E. Cooper follows an invitation of Dr Martin Fritz an Professor Uta Eva Eisen (Gießen University) and the Goethe University's research center »Religiöse Positionierung. Modalitäten und Konstellationen in jüdischen, christlichen und islamischen Kontexten« (»Religious Positioning: Modalities and Constellations in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Contexts«).

Scholarly profile of Julie E. Cooper

Julie E. Cooper is Senior Lecturer (US equivalent: Associate Professor) in the Political Science Department at Tel Aviv University. In 2003, she has received her PhD in Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkely, and has been Assistant Professor in Political Science at Syracuse University (2005–2007) and at the University of Chicago ((2007–2014).

Website:
More information about Julie Cooper can be found here.

Main areas of research:

History of political theory; early modern political theory (especially Hobbes and Spinoza); secularism and secularization; Jewish political thought; modern Jewish thought

Selected publications:

Secular Powers: Humility in Modern Political Thought, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
»Heretic or Traitor? Spinoza’s Excommunication and the Challenge that Judaism Poses to the Study of Religious Diversity«, In: Political Theology (im Erscheinen).
»Statesmen vs. Philosophers: Experience and Method in Spinoza’s Political Treatise«, in: Hasana Sharp and Yitzhak Melamed (Eds.), Spinoza’s Political Treatise: A Critical Guide, Cambridge, 2018.
»Can Jewish Ethics Speak to Sovereignty?«, In: Journal of Jewish Ethics (4:2), 2017, 109-135.
»Reevaluating Spinoza’s Legacy for Jewish Political Thought«, In: Journal of Politics (79:2), 2017, 173-484.
»The Turn to Tradition in the Study of Jewish Politics«, In: Annual Review of Political Science (19), 2016, 67-87.
»A Diasporic Critique of Diasporism: The Question of Jewish Political Agency«, In: Political Theory (43:1), 2015, 80-110.
»Vainglory, Modesty, and Political Agency in the Political Theory of Thomas Hobbes«, In: Review of Politics (72:2), 2010, 241-269.
»Thomas Hobbes on the Political Theorist’s Vocation«, In: The Historical Journal (50:3), 2010, 519-547.
»Freedom of Speech and Philosophical Citizenship in Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise«, In: Law, Culture, and the Humanities (2), 2007, 91-114.

Julie E. Cooper

Scholarly profile of Julie E. Cooper

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