Neoliberal and Militarised Post-Politics: Four Social Regimes, Four Affects and Radical Politics Today Ali Rıza Taşkale Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography, The University of Sheffield February 2013 ii Abstract This dissertation theorises the depoliticised conditions of late capitalism through what I call a ‘neoliberal and militarised post-politics.’ It argues that ours is a neoliberal and militarised post-political society that cannot imagine disruptive revolutionary events. The dissertation addresses key debates on governmental social regimes of neoliberal post-politics, the inseparability of neoliberalism and war/militarism, and the historical/geographical unevenness of global capitalism. In so doing, it offers an original topological analysis that makes the following critical interventions: an exploration of how the much-discussed social regimes of sovereignty, discipline and control relate to each other in the production of neoliberal governmentality; an analysis of the affective logic each regime entails and how they inter-relate; a proposal for a fourth regime, ‘terrorism’, and a theorisation of its associated affect, ‘spite.’ Finally, radical critique as divine violence is set against neoliberal and militarised post-politics. iii iv Acknowledgements Special thanks are due here to Eric Olund, my primary supervisor, for his patience and guidance as well as constant encouragement and support through the travails of writing and completing the dissertation. Thanks are also due to Jessica Dubow, my second supervisor, for her exemplary readings and invaluable comments on the chapters which now make up this dissertation. The support I have received from Benjamin Hennig and Lukáš Makovický throughout the dissertation has, of course, been inestimable. And many thanks to Julian Müller, Ali Duran Topuz, Tomas Marttila and Kim Kullman for their valuable contributions throughout the various stages of the dissertation. I am very grateful to Bülent Diken. Without creative, ‘disruptive’ ideas he taught me this dissertation would doubtless have assumed a different and more limited form. He remains a most inspiring figure, as a man and as a thinker. I would like to thank the University of Sheffield for granting me a 3 year full-time Ph.D. studentship, which has meant a lot for the progress of the dissertation. I am also thankful to the support and administrative staff at the University of Sheffield Geography Department, particularly Emma v Shelton, Peter Bragg, Laura Pitts and Thom Sullivan for cooperation and facilitation. vi vii This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Yeter and Ali Asker Taşkale. viii ix Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................................... v Chapter One .................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Agonism ................................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Social Regime ...................................................................................................... 19 1.4 Topologies of Power ........................................................................................... 28 1.5 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 31 1.6 Deleuze/Foucault................................................................................................ 32 1.7 Žižek .................................................................................................................... 35 1.8 Nietzsche ............................................................................................................ 36 1.9 Benjamin ............................................................................................................. 37 1.10 Chapter Outline .................................................................................................. 41 Chapter Two .................................................................................................................................................. 48 Neoliberal and Militarised Post-Politics ......................................................................................................... 48 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 48 2.2 Model: The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte ............................................... 50 2.3 Neoliberal and Militarised Post-Politics ..................................................................... 68 2.3.1 The Euro Crisis .................................................................................................... 85 2.3.2 Militarisation of Society ...................................................................................... 88 Chapter Three .............................................................................................................................................. 100 Sovereignty.................................................................................................................................................. 100 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 100 3.2 Sovereignty .............................................................................................................. 109 3.3 Ressentiment ........................................................................................................... 118 3.4 Torture ..................................................................................................................... 122 3.4.1 Torture is Aesthetic ........................................................................................... 134 3.4.2 Torture is Political ............................................................................................. 135 3.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 138 Chapter Four ................................................................................................................................................ 141 Discipline and the Birth of Neoliberal Governmentality ............................................................................... 141 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 141 4.2 Discipline .................................................................................................................. 142 4.3 The Panopticon ........................................................................................................ 146 4.4 The Rule of Law ........................................................................................................ 154 4.5 Fear .......................................................................................................................... 161 4.6 The Political Theology of Biopolitics ........................................................................ 166 4.6.1 Katechon ........................................................................................................... 169 4.6.2 Eschaton ........................................................................................................... 173 4.7 Geographies of Kettling ........................................................................................... 179 Chapter Five ................................................................................................................................................ 188 Understanding Neoliberal Control ............................................................................................................... 188 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 188 5.2 Neoliberal Control ................................................................................................... 189 5.3 Neoliberal Capitalism and Cynicism ......................................................................... 200 5.4 Debt as a Mode of Governance ............................................................................... 206 5.5 Preemptive Indifference .......................................................................................... 213 5.5.1 Preemption ....................................................................................................... 217 5.5.2 Indifference ....................................................................................................... 220 5.6 The Body Politic of Preemptive Indifference ........................................................... 230 5.7 Gated Communities ................................................................................................. 235 5.8 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................