The economy of violence and figures of exception. Sovereignty and Biopolitics

Abstract

According to Esposito, Political philosophy and Political thought can be distinguished if we consider the devastating consequences of twentieth century politics. Political thought attempts to avoid the question of “foundation” with which political philosophy is identified. The concept of sovereignty becomes pivotal in this tension between conceptions. The sovereignty is linked to the economy of violence, where (bio) politics and violence overlap. Schmitt’s political theology is the most ideal expression of this relation, reflected in the sovereign in whose reverse the shapes of persecution, such as Agamben’s homo sacer and Girard’s “scapegoat” appear. The sovereign as well as these figures of persecution can be identified with Derrida’s expression “outlaw”. From this context another problematic political figure emerges: the “werewolf”, which indicates the threshold between animality and humanity.