Liberalism, Media, and the State of Abandon

Contemporary political theory places the logic of abandonment at the center of its critique of liberalism, drawing necessary attention to the conditions of statelessness, territorial displacement, and non-recognition that define experiences of liberal and neoliberal governance around the world. Without dismissing this approach, this essay lays out a different way of thinking about both the logic of abandon and its relevance to the political vicissitudes of representation within liberalism. It aims to complicate prevailing frameworks for addressing the problems of liberalism, representation and social responsibility, drawing on images from contemporary protest movements to address the politics of staging media spectacles.