Necropolitics in Modern Warfare
By Matthew P. Arsenault
November 06, 2024
Necropolitics in Modern Warfare: Understanding Paramilitary Violence in Ukraine
In Ukraine, as paramilitaries and private military forces wreak havoc on civilian areas, the horror of modern conflict once again confronts the global community. The role of death squads and paramilitary groups has become disturbingly prominent in today’s wars, revealing how certain states wield power through violent, irregular forces. These groups, with ambiguous ties to their sponsoring governments, execute a shadowy form of power known as necropolitics, where the authority to decide who lives and who dies is outsourced to irregular forces. This dark and often overlooked dimension of contemporary war sheds light on how some governments strategically use paramilitaries and death squads to control populations, sow fear, and skirt accountability.
What is Necropolitics?
Necropolitics, coined by philosopher Achille Mbembe, goes beyond the traditional notion of state power. Rather than focusing on governance through institutions and laws, necropolitics looks at how certain governments assert control by dictating the terms of life and death. Building on Michel Foucault’s ideas of biopolitics—the regulation of populations through state power—necropolitics turns this on its head, revealing a political order based on the active marginalization, suffering, or outright elimination of targeted populations.
This shift from governance to a politics of life and death is evident when states tacitly (or explicitly) allow non-state actors, like paramilitaries and death squads, to operate outside of the usual accountability structures. These groups become tools for states to control and subdue populations while maintaining plausible deniability of state involvement in atrocities. Instead of overt military action, the state opts for irregular forces to avoid accountability while achieving brutal objectives.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2024/11/06/necropolitics_in_modern_warfare_1070269.html
