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Summary: "The State of Things," part of Norway's official representation in the 2011 Venice Biennale, addresses today's broad political and cultural climate through a series of lectures by some of today's foremost art historians, philosophers, sociologists, activists and political theorists. Essays written for this volume include Jacques Ranciere's "In What Time Do We Live?"; "Illegitimacy" by Leo Bersani; "Ten Lessons from Ten Peace Processes" by Jan Egeland; Fawaz A. Gerges' meditation on "How the Arab Uprisings Beat al Qaeda"; Vandana Shiva's "War Against the Earth"; Eyal Weizman on "Material Proportionality"; Judith Butler on "Bodily Vulnerability, Coalitions and Street Politics"; Franco Berardi on "Pasolini in Tottenham"; Saskia Sassen on "Urban Capabilities"; and T.J. Clark on "The Experience of Defeat."