Abstract
In this essay I argue that the distinction between neoliberalism and the Westphalian order that is said to precede it (along with populism, authoritarianism and other contemporary phenomenon) are all facets of one and the same phenomenon: archism. Archism is a style of politics based on rule and division. Looking at the work of Derrida, Foucault and Benjamin, I examine the inner workings of archism and how it can be resisted. Above all, I consider the notion of the ‘archeon’; that privileged perch from which the state or law can judge without itself being subject to that judgment. The archeon, I argue is the central node of archism that allows itself to insinuate into any number of myriad forms without appearing to be the same phenomenon. By looking at the way Benjamin subverts the theological origins of the archeon with the idea of a God who abandons the position of judgment, I show a model for how to think differently about archism such that we do not seem eternally fated to choose between the same false dichotomies over and over again.
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Notes
My great thanks to Tiffany MacLellan for bringing this term to my attention.
In French it says: ‘une des plus massives transformations du droit politique au XIXe siècle a consisté, je ne dis pas exactement à substituer, mais à completer…’ (Foucault 2001, p. 250).
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Acknowledgements
My thanks to Chris Butler and Karen Crawley as well as Valerie Kelley for their help with this essay, as well as to all of my fellow participants at the ‘Forms of authority beyond the neoliberal state’ symposium.
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Martel, J. Why Does the State Keep Coming Back? Neoliberalism, the State and the Archeon. Law Critique 29, 359–375 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-018-9234-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-018-9234-y