State, security, and subject formation - an introduction

State, Security, and Subject Formation addresses the question of how to secure the conditions for a civil and peaceful life together. It brings together leading scholars to examine democracy from two approaches: peaceful coexistence and the secular state as public authority and the necessity of division between communities of faith that allows for a state that defends the values of the community. This book aims to understand the rationality that informs both approaches, interpreting the subjectivities within each. To do so, the interdisciplinary, scholarly essays examine 17th century political thought and how it is caught up in debate about the relationship between faith and the state at a time when religious wars are endemic and profoundly destructive. They also provide an in-depth discussion of contemporary 21st and 20th century approaches to the question of security and the issue of subjective capacity for peaceful co-existence.