
Petar Bojanić is a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, and the President of the Regional Network of Centers for Advanced Studies in Southeast Europe (RECAS) under the Southeast European and Western Balkans Rectors’ Forum.
The main areas of Bojanić’s research are political philosophy including the theory of institution and collective action, violence and ethics of war, Jewish political tradition, and the philosophy of architecture. He also works on the concept of the project and projective acts. He is involved in numerous interdisciplinary projects, bridging philosophy and contemporary political concerns, with a focus on the dynamics of change, institutions and violence.
Currently, he is a Chair of the program Bitter Victory: Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century? at The New Institute in Hamburg.
Petar Bojanić
Full Professor, University of Belgrade

Petar Bojanić is a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, and the President of the Regional Network of Centers for Advanced Studies in Southeast Europe (RECAS) under the Southeast European and Western Balkans Rectors’ Forum.
The main areas of Bojanić’s research are political philosophy including the theory of institution and collective action, violence and ethics of war, Jewish political tradition, and the philosophy of architecture. He also works on the concept of the project and projective acts. He is involved in numerous interdisciplinary projects, bridging philosophy and contemporary political concerns, with a focus on the dynamics of change, institutions and violence.
Currently, he is a Chair of the program Bitter Victory: Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century? at The New Institute in Hamburg.
recent books
Violence, the Figures of Sovereignty – or rather, as Petar Bojanić writes in the introduction, the words after the comma – reveal(s) the space of a certain delay, a pause, which always arises in a personal encounter with violence. The boundaries of this space of delay are outlined by Bojanić with the help of key concepts of European philosophy: violence and sovereignty, violence and the state, violence and the individual. In the book, he introduces discontinuity, putting a comma and thus holding back the mutual transformations between these pairs of categories, as well as warning against the danger of a final answer and the final strike.
In Violence and Messianism, Bojanić explores the intersection of violence, politics, and messianic thought, particularly within Jewish philosophy and twentieth-century conflicts. He examines how messianic ideas, which often propose radical change or redemption, interact with the realities of political violence and war. Bojanić engages with thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas, analyzing how messianic expectations can inspire resistance against oppressive systems, but also how they may lead to the justification of extreme violence. Bojanić takes on important but paradoxical questions, such as whether peace can be created through war, or whether revolution is able to eliminate violence through violence.
Originally published in 2014 in Italy, this book has been translated into Italian (2014) French (2015), Russian (2017), English (2018), Spanish (2021), Hungarian (2022) and Portuguese (2024) reflecting its significance in discussions of ethics, theology, and conflict.
The Gesture is a philosophical exploration of gestures and their significance in social theory. The authors analyze how gestures function as non-verbal language, conveying complex ideas and emotions, and discuss their impact on cultural and societal norms.
Written by four hands, the current volume moves on two planes that fruitfully intersect and sometimes conflict in their interpretations. On the one hand, Petar Bojanić proposes that gestures are not parasitic of social acts but instead constitute a supporting element. From this interpretative angle, gestures contribute to the constitution of a group or institution. On the other hand, Virgilio Cesarone first presents a phenomenology of gesture, showing that non-instrumental gestural expression, which refers to the constitution of another’s body as alter ego, is truly human. Furthermore, gesture shows its essentiality precisely at the moment when it serves no purpose. He thus proposes a hermeneutics of gesture, aiming to show that gesture cannot be considered an accessory and expressive element of a thought that is inwardly closed, but part of a thought that moves with the hand itself.
In-Statuere investigates the processes of institution formation and the dynamics of collective action. It explores how groups of individuals come together to address common problems, design solutions, and organize actions aimed at social change. The work emphasizes the necessity of joint resistance and the creation of counter-institutions as essential components in the development of new institutions.
‘Being together’ obviously means something more, such as being with some third, someone not yet present. If we had to describe this novelty in the development of the ‘In-statuere’ (de)construction, we would begin from the number of acts continuously enlarged, increased by the reciprocal activity of multiple actors. A group of individuals gathers to address a problem, transparently design a solution, construct a general plan of action for providing help, and organize a series of future actions in a disciplined manner that are intended to bring about a given social change. An institution is impossible if there are no experiments or a universal solution to a general problem, one that affects everybody. There can be no institution without the organization of joint resistance, and a project of counter-institution.
The book explores the Ancient Roman institute of ius provocationis – the right to appeal a death sentence to the populace – as a foundational legal safeguard. Bojanić examines how this idea of “provocation” informs the history of justice, democracy, and rebellion, highlighting its role in protecting life and challenging authority. Originally published in 2008, it was translated into Italian (2021) and Russian (2022).
recent books
Violence, the Figures of Sovereignty – or rather, as Petar Bojanić writes in the introduction, the words after the comma – reveal(s) the space of a certain delay, a pause, which always arises in a personal encounter with violence. The boundaries of this space of delay are outlined by Bojanić with the help of key concepts of European philosophy: violence and sovereignty, violence and the state, violence and the individual. In the book, he introduces discontinuity, putting a comma and thus holding back the mutual transformations between these pairs of categories, as well as warning against the danger of a final answer and the final strike.

In Violence and Messianism, Bojanić explores the intersection of violence, politics, and messianic thought, particularly within Jewish philosophy and twentieth-century conflicts. He examines how messianic ideas, which often propose radical change or redemption, interact with the realities of political violence and war. Bojanić engages with thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas, analyzing how messianic expectations can inspire resistance against oppressive systems, but also how they may lead to the justification of extreme violence. Bojanić takes on important but paradoxical questions, such as whether peace can be created through war, or whether revolution is able to eliminate violence through violence.
Originally published in 2014 in Italy, this book has been translated into Italian (2014) French (2015), Russian (2017), English (2018), Spanish (2021), Hungarian (2022) and Portuguese (2024) reflecting its significance in discussions of ethics, theology, and conflict.

The Gesture is a philosophical exploration of gestures and their significance in social theory. The authors analyze how gestures function as non-verbal language, conveying complex ideas and emotions, and discuss their impact on cultural and societal norms.
Written by four hands, the current volume moves on two planes that fruitfully intersect and sometimes conflict in their interpretations. On the one hand, Petar Bojanić proposes that gestures are not parasitic of social acts but instead constitute a supporting element. From this interpretative angle, gestures contribute to the constitution of a group or institution. On the other hand, Virgilio Cesarone first presents a phenomenology of gesture, showing that non-instrumental gestural expression, which refers to the constitution of another’s body as alter ego, is truly human. Furthermore, gesture shows its essentiality precisely at the moment when it serves no purpose. He thus proposes a hermeneutics of gesture, aiming to show that gesture cannot be considered an accessory and expressive element of a thought that is inwardly closed, but part of a thought that moves with the hand itself.

In-Statuere investigates the processes of institution formation and the dynamics of collective action. It explores how groups of individuals come together to address common problems, design solutions, and organize actions aimed at social change. The work emphasizes the necessity of joint resistance and the creation of counter-institutions as essential components in the development of new institutions.
‘Being together’ obviously means something more, such as being with some third, someone not yet present. If we had to describe this novelty in the development of the ‘In-statuere’ (de)construction, we would begin from the number of acts continuously enlarged, increased by the reciprocal activity of multiple actors. A group of individuals gathers to address a problem, transparently design a solution, construct a general plan of action for providing help, and organize a series of future actions in a disciplined manner that are intended to bring about a given social change. An institution is impossible if there are no experiments or a universal solution to a general problem, one that affects everybody. There can be no institution without the organization of joint resistance, and a project of counter-institution.

The book explores the Ancient Roman institute of ius provocationis – the right to appeal a death sentence to the populace – as a foundational legal safeguard. Bojanić examines how this idea of “provocation” informs the history of justice, democracy, and rebellion, highlighting its role in protecting life and challenging authority. Originally published in 2008, it was translated into Italian (2021) and Russian (2022).
