ilchinealach reviewed State of Exception by Giorgio Agamben
Review of 'State of Exception' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Marxists would be automatically wary of an account of the state that reifies the role of the judiciary, let alone one that seems prepared to hop around impressionistically between Roman law and twentieth century Europe, historians would be suspicious of an author moving, over the course of a few paragraphs, from Abraham Lincoln instituting a state of exception against the confederacy, Roosevelt ramming the New Deal through and the Patriot Act passed under George W. Bush. In doing so Agamben is trying to demonstrate the ways in which the state of exception has become a go-to mechanism on all sides of the political spectrum under modernity, but in his inability to draw a distinction between Auschwitz and COVID lockdowns, we see where that analysis gets you. it is funny the liberal libertarian stuff that catches on as, for lack of a better word, sexy Theory.
Marxists would be automatically wary of an account of the state that reifies the role of the judiciary, let alone one that seems prepared to hop around impressionistically between Roman law and twentieth century Europe, historians would be suspicious of an author moving, over the course of a few paragraphs, from Abraham Lincoln instituting a state of exception against the confederacy, Roosevelt ramming the New Deal through and the Patriot Act passed under George W. Bush. In doing so Agamben is trying to demonstrate the ways in which the state of exception has become a go-to mechanism on all sides of the political spectrum under modernity, but in his inability to draw a distinction between Auschwitz and COVID lockdowns, we see where that analysis gets you. it is funny the liberal libertarian stuff that catches on as, for lack of a better word, sexy Theory.