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This article addresses the question of whether contemporary global urbanization is characterized by a distinctive relationship between the city and warfare. In particular, it examines the specific way in which two particular forms of warfare – so-called Al-Qaeda terrorism and US tactics in Iraq – target urban infrastructure. I argue that infrastructure is targeted because it is a constitutive feature of contemporary urban life. Metropolitan life is marked by its constitutive relation to urban infrastructure. The article thus suggests that this targeting of infrastructure provides a lens through which to investigate some of the central questions posed by the contemporary urbanization of security.

This article examines the question of global order in the contemporary historical conjuncture. I argue that Hardt and Negri's Empire provides a response to such a question. This response is necessary given the manner in which globalisation theory's explanation of global order has been contested by the George W Bush regime. An exegesis of the manner in which Empire delineates global order in the contemporary era provides, moreover, a fruitful encounter between elements of post-structuralist International Relations theory and the subject matter of International Political Economy. The article sketches out the principal characteristics of empire followed by an exegesis of the empirical manifestation of imperial characteristics in the contemporary global order. I argue that the present global order is characterised by the drawing of boundaries or the constitution of thresholds that define what is to be regarded as included and excluded from the imperial realm. Empire vigorously polices these thresholds in order to defer encounters with others that might question its self-asserted timeless pacific civility. Finally, I conclude by noting that the centrality of such boundary constitution to imperial forms suggests that a logic of security underlies contemporary global order. Thus investigations into the political economy of Empire will always already comprise an investigation of imperial logics of security.

This article examines the nature of the destruction of built environments. Such destruction should be seen as a distinct form of violence: urbicide. This violence comprises the destruction of shared spatiality which is the condition of possibility of heterogeneous communities. Urbicide, insofar as it is a destruction of heterogeneity in general, is thus a manifestation of a ‘politics of exclusion’. However, this account of the destruction of the built environment is not only an insight into a distinct form of political violence. Rather, an account of urbicide also offers a metatheoretical argument regarding the scholarly study of political violence: namely that destruction of built environments contests the anthropocentric frame that usually dominates the study of violence.

This Special Issue celebrates the 50th anniversary of Review of International Studies. Since 1975, the Review has published over 200 issues and over 1300 articles. The journal has played a key role in shaping the discipline of International Relations (IR), leading, or critically intervening in, key debates. To celebrate 50 years of Review of International Studies, we have curated a Special Issue examining the challenges facing global politics for the next 50 years. IR has regularly turned its attention backwards towards its historical origins. Instead, we look to the future. In this Introduction, we start by outlining four traditions of future-oriented thinking: positivist, realist prediction; planning, forecasting, and scenario-building; utopian dreams of an ideal political future; and prefigurative thinking in activist politics. From these traditions, we learn that thinking about the future is always thinking about the present. We then outline four themes in the Special Issue articles: How do we think about the future at all? How do we think about imperial pasts and the ongoing questions of colonization and racialization in the present? How will technological change mediate and generates geopolitical change? How are socioecological crises, and in particular climate change, increasingly shaping how we think about the future of global politics? Overall, these provide us with a diverse, stimulating, and thought-provoking set of essays about the future of global politics, as both discipline and set of empirical problems.

Abstract This article examines affective responses to terror and the emergence of communities of sense in the commemoration of such attacks. We challenge the predominant framing of responses to terror which emphasize security and identity. We focus on the singular response by the city of Manchester in the aftermath of the 2017 Arena bombing, drawing on fieldwork conducted at the 1-year anniversary commemorative events. Our discussion focuses on the ways improvised, transient communities crystallized around the cultural significance of music during these events. The article explores these communities of sense through two case studies: those drawn together around the figure of Ariane Grande; and those assembled through a mass sing-along. In contrast to national or municipal responses to terror which orchestrate affect to establish narratives about security, borders and identity, we argue for the importance of paying attention to the improvised, affective ways in which people respond to terror. These plural, affective responses suggest another form of collective subjectivity. They also demonstrate the transient, plural, and everyday ways in which politics is practiced, assembled, and negotiated by different publics in response to terror. Cet article examine les réactions affectives au terrorisme et l’émergence de communautés de sens dans la commémoration de tels attentats. Nous remettons en question le cadre prédominant des réactions au terrorisme qui met l'accent sur la sécurité et sur l'identité. Nous nous concentrons sur la réaction singulière de la ville de Manchester au lendemain de l'attentat à la bombe de l'Arena de 2017 en nous appuyant sur le travail de terrain qui a été mené lors des événements commémoratifs de son premier anniversaire. Notre discussion s'axe sur les manières dont des communautés transitoires improvisées se sont cristallisées autour de la signification culturelle de la musique durant ces événements. L'article explore ces communautés de sens par le biais de deux études de cas: celles qui se sont rassemblées autour d'Ariane Grande, et celles qui se sont réunies dans le cadre d'un chant de masse. Contrairement aux réactions nationales ou municipales au terrorisme qui orchestrent les affects en élaborant des discours sur la sécurité, les frontières et l'identité, nous soutenons qu'il est important de prêter attention aux manières improvisées et affectives dont la population réagit au terrorisme. Cette pluralité de réactions affectives suggère une autre forme de subjectivité collective. Elle démontre également la pluralité des façons transitoires quotidiennes dont la politique est pratiquée, composée et négociée par les différents publics en réaction au terrorisme. En este artículo se examinan las respuestas afectivas al terrorismo y la aparición de comunidades de sentido en el marco de la conmemoración de dichos ataques. Cuestionamos el marco predominante de respuestas al terrorismo que hacen hincapié en la seguridad y la identidad. Nos centramos en la singular respuesta de la ciudad de Manchester tras el bombardeo del Arena en 2017 a partir del trabajo de campo realizado en los actos conmemorativos del primer aniversario. Nuestro análisis se centra en las formas en las que las comunidades improvisadas y transitorias se cristalizaron en torno a la importancia cultural de la música en estos eventos. En el artículo se exploran estas comunidades de sentido mediante dos estudios de caso: las que se unen en torno a la figura de Ariane Grande y las que unen sus voces con un canto masivo. A diferencia de las respuestas al terrorismo a nivel nacional y municipal que orquestan el afecto para establecer narrativas sobre seguridad, fronteras e identidad, defendemos la importancia de prestar atención a las formas improvisadas y afectivas en las que las personas responden al terrorismo. Estas diversas respuestas afectivas sugieren otra forma de subjetividad colectiva. También demuestran las formas transitorias, múltiples y cotidianas en que diferentes públicos ponen en práctica, instauran y negocian políticas en respuesta al terrorismo.