Recent events have brought renewed attention to the concept of necropolitics. This idea explains how political power controls who lives and who dies. It shows why some deaths cause outrage while others are ignored. Necropolitics reveals the deeper systems behind violence, neglect, and abandonment in societies worldwide.
Definition and Origin
Necropolitics is the use of political power to decide who may live and who must die. The term was coined by Achille Mbembe, a Cameroonian historian, in 2003 and expanded in his 2019 book. It builds on Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics but focuses on death rather than life. While biopolitics manages populations to optimise life, necropolitics governs death and disposability.
Biopolitics versus Necropolitics
Foucault described power evolving from sovereign rule to biopower, which manages life through health and governance. However, biopolitics makes live and lets die. Mbembe marks that many die not by accident but design. Necropolitics reveals how states deliberately expose some groups to death while protecting others. It is not about ignoring death but producing it.
Characteristics of Necropolitics
Necropolitics operates through state terror, violence, and surveillance. States may work with militias or criminal groups to enforce control. Enmity becomes a tool to justify killing. War and terror create economies that sustain violence. Certain social groups are displaced or targeted through torture, drone strikes, starvation, or disappearance. Ideologies like nationalism or religion justify these acts morally.
State of Exception and Enemy Creation
Modern states create enemies to justify fear, exclusion, and violence. This enemy may be imaginary but legitimises harsh policies. Philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls this the state of exception, where normal laws are suspended. Mbembe shows that for many, this exception is permanent. Rights become selective, and decisions about life and death are made administratively but are deeply political.
The Living Dead and Death Worlds
Mbembe describes the living dead as people forced to live in degrading conditions where life is slow death. Examples include migrant workers stranded without aid or populations in war zones like Gaza. These death worlds exist outside legal protection. Death here is not failure but a deliberate method of governance.
Necropolitics in Everyday Life
Necropolitics is not only war or violence. It appears in policies like forced sterilisation, racial profiling, and detention centres. It thrives in poverty, caste discrimination, racism, and displacement. These systems discard certain lives quietly, normalising their suffering and death. Global indifference to civilian deaths in conflict zones also reflects necropolitical logic.
Implications for Society
Necropolitics challenges societies to recognise whose lives matter. It exposes how some deaths are grieved while others are ignored. Resistance involves demanding recognition, dignity, and justice for all lives. It calls for moving beyond mere survival to meaningful existence.
Questions for UPSC:
- Critically discuss the concept of necropolitics and its relevance in understanding state violence and societal neglect.
- Analyse the evolution of power from sovereign authority to biopolitics and necropolitics with suitable examples from history and contemporary times.
- With examples from global conflicts, discuss how the creation of enemies justifies the suspension of legal rights and the state of exception.
- Examine the impact of structural violence on marginalised communities in India and globally, and discuss possible resistance strategies in the light of necropolitics.
