The modern state is often viewed as the ultimate arbiter of justice, yet its foundational logic is tied to maintaining inequality, protecting property, and monopolizing political violence. It operates through bureaucracies that obscure cruelty behind a veil of legality.
The Modern State: A political entity primarily designed for the security of biological life11. A concept often associated with Michel Foucault, referring to how modern politics is fundamentally concerned with the administration, preservation, and control of biological life. and the protection of property rights.
Governmentality: A mentality of power that arranges societal structures to lead to convenient ends, grounded in security, obedience, and punishment.
Mythic Violence: The concept that all violence spilling blood is driven by a mythic understanding of the world, and that law-keeping is simply mythic violence by other means.
The police operate under an intangible logic where a homeless person hit by a Lamborghini is treated legally as having fewer rights than the wealthy driver. This demonstrates the law’s true nature: the protection of property and legally recognized individuals over basic human life.
A concept often associated with Michel Foucault, referring to how modern politics is fundamentally concerned with the administration, preservation, and control of biological life.↩︎