Chapter 15: Biopolitics and the state of exception Flashcards
How does Foucault (1978) describe the shift in power dynamics with the advent of modernity?
Foucault argues that modernity marks the decline of sovereign power, characterized by the power to kill and let live. Instead, it brings the biological under the control of the state, where life itself becomes a matter of political concern.
What is biopower according to Foucault (1978)?
Biopower, as described by Foucault, operates through the management of life rather than the right to kill. It involves techniques and methods of surveillance aimed at organizing various aspects of life such as birthrates, health, migration, housing, and demographics.
What are the core components of the art of government in Foucault’s (1978) analysis?
According to Foucault, the core components of the art of government are sovereignty, discipline, and government. These elements target the population as its main focus, with security serving as its central mechanism of ruling.
How does Agamben (1998) depart from Foucault’s analysis of biopolitics?
Agamben argues that Western politics has been biopolitical since ancient Greece, contrary to Foucault’s notion that it arose with modernity.
What is the concept of bare life according to Agamben (1998)?
Bare life refers to life that is abandoned by the juridical order and lacks political and legal protections, while still being subjected to its violent operations.
How does Agamben (1998) describe the relationship between sovereignty and bare life?
Agamben suggests that sovereignty and bare life are co-constituted through the production of normalcy and exception, where the state of exception allows for the suspension of the rule of law, exemplified by instances such as the Holocaust.
How have Foucault’s and Agamben’s analyses of biopolitics influenced the field of International Relations (IR)?
Foucault’s analysis of biopolitics has influenced IR scholars studying topics such as biometrics, surveillance, and the ‘liberal way of war.’ Agamben’s concept of bare life has been used to explore practices like torture, detention, and surveillance in contemporary liberal democracies.
What are some specific areas within IR that have been influenced by Foucault’s analysis of biopolitics?
Scholarship on biometrics, surveillance, and the ‘liberal way of war’ has been heavily influenced by Foucault’s analysis of biopolitics.
How has Agamben’s concept of bare life been applied in the field of IR?
In IR, Agamben’s concept of bare life has been used to explore practices such as torture, detention, deportation, extradition, surveillance, and other ‘exceptional’ measures in contemporary liberal democracies.
What is a significant example often cited in discussions of Agamben’s state of exception in the global war on terror?
The US detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is often cited as a watershed example of Agamben’s state of exception in the global war on terror.
What critique have postcolonial, indigenous, and black radical scholars leveled against IR approaches inspired by Foucault and Agamben?
They argue that approaches focusing on bare life and biopolitics often neglect the critical category of race and fail to consider the deep-rooted history of European colonialism, enslavement, and genocide.
How do critics argue that Foucault and Agamben overlook the historical roots of events like the Nazi Holocaust?
Critics argue that both Foucault and Agamben conceptualize events like the Nazi Holocaust as ultimate states of exception without sufficiently analyzing their deeper roots in colonial conquests and genocides, such as the Indian removal, Boer war, and the genocide of Herero and Namaqua populations.
What historical contexts do critics believe are neglected by Foucault and Agamben in their analyses?
Critics argue that colonial borderlands and peripheries, which historically served as testing grounds for new technologies and practices later imported to the metropole, are neglected in their analyses. They also emphasize the omission of concrete histories of empire, enslavement, and settler colonial dispossession.
What is the consequence of the omission of colonial histories from Foucault and Agamben’s analyses?
Critics argue that the omission results in an abstract and disembodied conception of biopower, divorced from the concrete histories of empire, enslavement, and colonial dispossession from which it emerged.
What have been the consequences on the uptake of the concept of biopolitics in IR?
While the concept of biopolitics has enriched the analysis of power, violence, and security in IR, its uptake has also prompted critical reflections on its limitations and blind spots.
Moving forward, a more nuanced and inclusive approach that integrates insights from postcolonial and critical race theories may offer a more comprehensive understanding of biopolitical dynamics in global politics.
