Umberto Eco’s essays “Living in the New Middle Ages” and “Dreaming of the Middle Ages” … decline of Westphalian sovereignty … replaced by global political system similar to Middle Ages without defined country borders … sovereignty, loyalty, devotion deviate from the country to diverse structures self-governance, unions, employers, tech monopolies … (church, lords, factories in Middle Ages) …
Technofeudalism Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism (2023), Yanis Varoufakis
Gabriel Almond, David Easton call state - special entity and stage for global rivalry … new world order is dictated by international corporations, organizations, global information network
New Middle Ages threatens return of the old problems, Westphalian system was made to solve such as religious (or values) wars … fear of war and chaos raises the demand for leadership that defends “sovereignty” as “the right to dominate”
Marshall McLuhan’s vision of the “global village”. His famous phrase “the medium is the message” speaks to the same kind of semiotic concerns that preoccupied Eco.
Michel Foucault’s work on epistemes and historical discontinuity provides a sophisticated framework for understanding the transition to “new middle ages”
Giorgio Agamben’s concept of “profanation” - the restoration of things to common use - speaks directly to Huizinga’s ideas about play and the sacred.
linked mentions for "new middle ages":
neomedievalism decades apart Neomedievalism refers to the revival or reimagining of themes, aesthetics, and influences from the medieval period in contemporary culture. It
the state as a voluntary association There is no such thing as governing mankind, as a wise man once said, there is such a thing as leaving mankind alone. All modes of government are