Especially now that the world has been brought to its knees by a major crisis, national and international institutions need to cope with health, economic, social and political emergencies. Yet institutions often appear inadequate, at times even responsible for critical events. Why? The distrust we feel about institutions is hardly a recent development, but rather the ultimate outcome of a repressive interpretation of institutions, especially as regards their hostility towards social and political movements. But institutions deserve to be understood in a distinctly different, original and stimulating way: the instituting process is an innovative practice and forces us to radically rethink the constitutive relationship of institutions with politics and life.

Roberto Esposito teaches Theoretical Philosophy at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.

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