Allies in Death: The Rise of Necropolitics

Necropolitics: The ultimate expression of sovereignty largely resides in the power and capacity to dictate who is able to live and who must die.

Achille Mbembe

It is necessary to provide a small preamble to this short article. This piece is written as a polemic. Of course, I have been careful of my references and observations. Its intent, to borrow a phrase from my current country of residence, is to question what happens to the norms of military conduct and power when ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark.’ The assault on the democratic process from within Western nations is noticeable for its abject disdain for the common person whilst virtue signalling otherwise. Given the role of standing professional forces, this presents a yet-encountered and under-considered challenge, which may need some reflection upon sooner rather than later.

I was fortunate to be introduced to Professor Achille Mbembe’s work a few years ago. Professor Mbembe is considered a leader in critical theory and post-colonialism, among other things. As a retired service person, it somewhat shook me. Comfortable staff college debates on the utility of military power and the nature of national power itself were swept into the bin. Those discussions seemed limiting and self-serving. Even then, I reassured myself that ethical constraints would prevent post-modern Western societies from sliding into a wholesale embrace of Necropolitics.

Cut away the clutter

There are other more traditional definitions of sovereignty, but very few would discount the monopolisation of the application of violence as a fundamental pillar. By anchoring his understanding on the work of Michel Foucault, Mbembe cuts away the clutter and can focus on the use of death as a means of political power. His use of other writings is extensive, Arendt, Hegel, Bataille, and Marx, to name a few; this is a well-considered work, without the overt leftist cant, one might assume.

As I watch as a very distant observer, the lethargic tolerance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, more dramatically, the US President Elect’s behaviours and stated intent post elections indicate far from inflicting Necropolitics on the colonies, it is growing within.

Perhaps the most apt way to understand his theory is through Mbembe’s use of the slave plantation as an analogy. The enslaved person was a ‘mere tool and instrument of production.’ Possessing the absolute ability of the enslaver to harm with no fear of personal consequence turns the enslaved person into a mere ‘thing.’ This doesn’t just include acts of torture, but importantly, the acts of life as well, procreation, protection, and control of the family. As Mbembe puts it, there are three outcomes: absolute domination, natal alienation and social death.

Fear of consequence

This emergence of the ability to harm without fear of consequence is becoming more evident in some Western democracies, indeed enshrined by the US Supreme Court regarding the actions of the President. Controlling social media has been a more subtle and arguably more effective tool in inflicting social death. Specifically, in the US, the control (or rather denial) of abortion is a prime example of natal alienation. The pending appointment of a renowned anti-vaccine believer as the Secretary of Health provides another: his beliefs outweigh the scientific protection of collective life. Necropolitics is not just the application of violence but the dominance of all forms of living to make the individual believe their existence is tenuous and at the whim of those in political power.

Mbembe uses both the apartheid regime in South Africa and the Israeli colonisation of Palestine as post-modern examples. Displaced people are moved into ‘camps’ overwatched by precision munitions (the immediate application of death), whilst the powerful established towns are off limits. This exclusion may soon include the herding of undocumented migrants either internally or to far-flung African nations.

The purpose of this short article is not to debate the decline of democracy as a foundation of a just society or criticise the pending retraction of US global influence, intended or otherwise. But indeed, to pose the question, are nations (any nation) deeply imbued with the practices of Necropolitics-worthy allies?

Westphalia is no longer primary

The lenses of power and influence fundamentally differ, unlike common interests. Mbembe shows the Westphalian nation-state, and the theories that underpin this are no longer primary. Russia certainly isn’t respecting it in phantom oil fleets, social media campaigns, bribery hidden by the corporate, and anti-submarine cable operations. Others’ fear of potential conflict (death) grants impunity to these actions—the lack of strong and immediate response by Western nations displays the helplessness of the enslaved.

Effective ‘unholy’ alliances have existed, most notably the Western alliance in World War 2 with the Soviet Union. However, the consequences reached well into the late 20th Century and are arguably still being felt. Unlike other alliances, it was also not of deep political or social engagement but of resources and coordination, so its impact was potentially lesser than what could have been with a stronger alliance.

The ongoing Israeli War provides a study of the straining of alliances when belligerents do not comply with even the most basic rules of war. Obvious rules of war violations have been ongoing; there is deep discomfort among military commentators. Israel and Hamas were employing the elements of Necropolitics in their current war. Israel has extended it against non-belligerents as well. This is not amenable to alliance building beyond those already in political strait jackets with either side. What happens when your major ally starts behaving like this?

The true essence of a dictatorship is in fact not its regularity but its unpredictability and caprice; those who live under it must never be able to relax, must never be quite sure if they have followed the rules correctly or not

Christopher Hitchins

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The arguments that there are checks and balances on such behaviours are now misplaced and puerile. As Professor Lawrence Freedman has pointed out, this is obvious regarding US secretarial appointments. Additionally, Australian Professor Rory Medcalf has started writing on the nature of alliances post-20 January 2025. Nor does ‘the hold your breath four more years’ strategy have any merit. The current state of global affairs is decades in the making. We are beyond some form of miraculous reset. Even Professor Stephen Waltcame to this realisation through the work of Noam Chomsky, acknowledging he could not have dreamed of writing an article saying Chomsky was correct 40 years ago.

This is not some anti-conservative (or anti-Israeli) rant; some competent and trustworthy conservatives would be a godsend. I am proposing that the lens of rational views of statecraft in security, be it realism or anything else taken singularly, is now less than optimal in dealing with future challenges for minor alliance partners. Declarations of ‘special relationships’ and ‘enduring bonds’, whilst already displaying a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of alliances, are now potentially destructive, turning the minor ally into a commodity under the lens of the Necropolitical.

In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners

Albert Camus

Mbembe’s work sometimes becomes slightly tricky for a novice like me to understand, and of course, I don’t necessarily agree with all he writes. However, the first reading shocked me, and perhaps that is what we all need. I believe that Necropolitics will start to resonate through military and security practices if permitted. As some assistance to those still in the arena or about to enter it, I would like to leave you with a guiding quote from one of the great authors and social commentators of the 20^th Century. I wish all those who must navigate such incredible strength and noble moral courage.

Photo by Mathew MacQuarrie on Unsplash