Elizabeth F. Cohen, “The Political Value of Time: Citizenship, Duration, and Democratic Justice” (Cambridge UP, 2018)
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What political phenomena are structured by time and why have theorists overlooked them?
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Hello. Thanks for joining us for this episode of New Books and Philosophy. I'm Robert Talese. I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co-host the program with Carrie Figter. Harry is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today, my guest is Elizabeth F. Cohen. Elizabeth is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She's a political theorist who works on normative questions about citizenship, sovereignty, rights, and political inclusion, among other things. Elizabeth's latest book is newly out with Cambridge University Press, and it's titled The Political Value of Time. Now, we're all familiar with some of the ways in which time figures into our political environment.
Things such as term limits and waiting period, deadlines, filibusters, and criminal sentences quickly come to mind. But in addition to these, there are also protocols, accords, mandates, contracts, and these frequently are temporally bounded in various ways. In fact, when you begin to think about it, it's a full range of political phenomena that are structured by time. And yet, oddly, time seems to have eluded political theorists and philosophers. Now, in her book, Elizabeth undertakes an examination of the role that temporality plays, particularly within liberal democratic polities. She develops a fascinating argument according to which time is both a political value and an instrument for distorting value.
Now, there's a lot to talk about and a lot of interesting issues emerge very quickly. But let's begin as we normally do with our guest. Hi, Elizabeth. Hi, Bob. How are you today? I'm doing great. How
are
you? I'm doing fine. We usually start off with the author. So why don't we do that today? Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure. I am, as you said, political theorist at Syracuse University. I'm interested in topics related to rights and citizenship. My first book, Semi-Citizenship in Democratic Politics, also came out with Cambridge in 2010. And the kind of abiding theme of my work is the kind of interstices, what gets lost in between things. I am interested in these issues for normative reasons, and I'm also interested in them because I have a background of family that's that is deeply committed to social justice. I'm interested in citizenship in part because my family was left stateless after World War II, and so we never took our citizenship for granted. I'm also the daughter of a social theorist, and so I learned to think about these things abstractly at a young age.
Fabulous. So why don't we get to the book? Now, I guess a natural place to start. So the book is about time as a substantive feature of the political order.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What political phenomena are structured by time and why have theorists overlooked them?
0:00–8:38
2
How did Elizabeth Cohen’s personal and family history shape her interest in citizenship and time?
8:38–18:55
3
What is the central argument that time is both a political value and an instrument of distortion?
18:55–29:16
4
How does the book categorize temporal boundaries into fixed deadlines, countdowns, and recurring deadlines?
29:16–38:20
5
What role do temporal boundaries play in immigration, naturalization, and the founding of states?
38:20–48:21
6
Why are waiting periods and statutory limits used as proxies for civic development and fairness?
48:21–57:38
7
How does the concept of ‘incompletely theorized agreements’ help reconcile conflicting democratic values?
57:38–1:07:52
8
What future research directions does Cohen propose for studying line‑standing, protest, and the politics of time?
1:07:52–1:08:15
Speakers
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