Donna Nicholas Phd Thesis

HANNAH ARENDT AND THE POLITICAL: THE CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES POSED BY SOVEREIGNTY, NATIONALISM AND IMPERIALISM Donna Nicholas A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2010 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/7855 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence Hannah Arendt and the Political: The contemporary challenges posed by sovereignty, nationalism and imperialism Donna Nicholas This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 30th September 2015 2 4 ABSTRACT This thesis seeks to show how the reassessment of Arendt’s thought for contemporary international political theory must be grounded in her first major published work, The Origins of Totalitarianism, and, more specifically, in the concept of the political she outlines therein. The thesis begins by examining how Arendt interprets the political sui generis. It shows how this concept, which influences much of her scholarship from the 1950s onwards and serves as a critical measure against which she assesses modern-day events, is disclosed for the first time in Part II of Origins through her engagement with particular topics and phenomena related to European colonial imperialism. Using this somewhat neglected text as a point of departure, the main body of the thesis examines Arendt’s thoughts on three ‘anti-political’ impulses of the contemporary world that have clear international ramifications: sovereignty, nationalism and imperialism. The work is divided into three corresponding sections. Each contains a chapter providing an interpretive study of Arendt’s text on the subject, followed by a chapter applying the key themes, insights and dangers previously highlighted to some of the most intractable global situations today such as the international human rights regime, atomic weaponry and war, biopolitical control, genocide studies and neoliberal globalisation. In so doing, the thesis does not aim to ‘find’ in Arendt’s work determinate answers to the crises of our time, but rather to use her perceptions as critical inspiration to think about them differently. 5 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Patrick Hayden. The unswerving support and encouragement he has provided to me in the face of numerous challenges cannot be overstated. His mentoring and meticulous, critical and yet always insightful comments on various chapters and drafts have been invaluable in helping me to develop and shape the arguments herein. Sincere thanks also go to my family and friends who have been with me every step of the way. They have kept me sane and ensured I remained positive no matter what life threw at me. I could not have got this far without them. Particular appreciation has to go to my parents who have always believed in me and encouraged me to follow my dreams. For their love, support and trust I am most grateful. 7 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AJC Hannah Arendt Karl Jaspers Correspondence: 1926-1969 BPF Between Past and Future: Eight Essays in Political Thought CR Crises of the Republic CS The Conquest of Space and the Stature of Man EJ Eichmann in Jerusalem: The Banality of Evil EU Essays on Understanding 1930-1954: Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism HC The Human Condition JW The Jewish Writings LOM Thinking The Life of the Mind (Thinking) LOM Willing The Life of the Mind (Willing) MDT Men in Dark Times OR On Revolution OT / Origins The Origins of Totalitarianism OV On Violence PP The Promise of Politics RJ Responsibility and Judgement RLC Reflections on Literature and Culture RV Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess 9 10 CONTENTS REQUIRED DECLARATIONS ............................................................................................................ 3 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. 7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................ 9 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 13 Hannah Arendt on the Political ............................................................................................... 17 The Importance of The Origins of Totalitarianism .................................................................. 22 CHAPTER I ARENDT ON SOVEREIGNTY ........................................................................................ 25 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 25 Sovereignty as Inequality of Rule ............................................................................................ 26 On Freedom ............................................................................................................................ 31 Sovereignty as Mutual Enmity ................................................................................................ 39 Concept of Modern Sovereignty ............................................................................................. 46 Concluding Comments ............................................................................................................ 50 CHAPTER II INTERNATIONAL RAMIFICATIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY ............................................... 51 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 51 The International Human Rights Regime ................................................................................ 51 The International Human Rights Regime and Sovereignty ................................................. 51 The International Human Rights Regime as Maintenance and Augmentation of the Status Quo ...................................................................................................................................... 53 The International Human Rights Regime as a Threat to Human Agency ............................ 60 Concluding Comments on the International Human Rights Regime and Sovereignty ........ 68 Atomic Weaponry and War ..................................................................................................... 69 Effect on the Relationship between Power, Strength and Violence .................................... 70 Implications for Sovereignty ................................................................................................ 75 Effect on the Human Condition ........................................................................................... 77 Concluding Comments on Atomic Weaponry and War ....................................................... 83 Concluding Comments – Section One ..................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER III ARENDT ON NATIONALISM ..................................................................................... 85 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 85 Review of J.T. Delos’ La Nation ............................................................................................... 86 11 Western Nationalism .............................................................................................................. 89 Liberal Individualism and the Rise of the Class System ....................................................... 92 The Rise of the Social Realm ................................................................................................ 94 Tribal Nationalism ................................................................................................................... 96 Nationalism as an Ideology ................................................................................................... 105 Racism, the Pan-Movements and National Socialism ....................................................... 108 Antisemitism, the Pan-Movements, National Socialism and Political Zionism ................. 109 Concluding Comments .......................................................................................................... 112 CHAPTER IV INTERNATIONAL RAMIFICATIONS OF NATIONALISM ........................................... 113 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 113 Nationalism and Biopolitics ................................................................................................... 113 Ethnic Nationalism, Biopolitics and Israel ............................................................................. 121 Arendt on Zionism ............................................................................................................. 122 Israeli Biopolitical Control over Citizenship ....................................................................... 125 Biopolitical Management of Palestinian Population ......................................................... 131 Concluding

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