Sovereignty, state of exception, and the politics of the pandemic

Where is Agamben now

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4481397
AutoresMikkel Flohr (0000-0002-6465-9870, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen190
Número1
Páginas106-117
Fecha de publicación2025-04-15
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThesis Eleven (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0725-5136 • E-ISSN: 1461-7455
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/07255136251331985
OpenAlexW4409473161
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas27

Over the past three decades, Giorgio Agamben's works have exercised a profound and widespread influence on social and political theory, particularly through his Homo Sacer -series, which analyses the foundational (bio-)political structures of Western politics. However, his controversial writings on the COVID-19 pandemic, which grossly underestimated the virus and likened government containment policies to fascism, sparked significant debate and criticism from peers. This essay reviews the recent Omnibus Edition of the Homo Sacer -series and a collection of his pandemic interventions entitled Where Are We Now? The Epidemic as Politics . It argues that while there are significant conceptual continuities between Agamben's pandemic writings and his earlier works, they also exhibit notable theoretical divergences. These divergences may stem from his methodological approach, which emphasizes the developmental potential of philosophical concepts and may also serve as a model for subsequent engagements with his work beyond their original contexts and Agamben's own interpretations

Pandemic · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · State of emergency · State of exception · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Medicine · Political Theology and Sovereignty