Necropolitics is a term coined by the philosopher Achille Mbembe in his 2003 essay “Necropolitics.” It refers to the use of power by states or other political entities to determine who lives and who dies, or, more broadly, to control life and death at the societal and individual level. Necropolitics builds on Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics - the governance of life and populations - but focuses on the politics of death and the ways power operates through violence, oppression, and the exposure of populations to death.
Key Aspects of Necropolitics
1. Sovereignty Over Death:
Necropolitics is the ultimate expression of sovereignty, as it grants the authority to decide who may live and who must die. This power is often exercised in contexts of war, colonialism, slavery, or other forms of systemic oppression.
2. Spaces of Death:
Mbembe describes how necropolitical regimes create “death-worlds,”spaces where individuals or groups are relegated to conditions of near-death, such as extreme precarity, poverty, or violent oppression.
Examples include refugee camps, war zones, prisons, and colonized territories.
3. Racialized Power Structures:
Necropolitics often functions through racial or ethnic hierarchies, where certain groups are dehumanized and made disposable. Mbembe draws on examples like the transatlantic slave trade, apartheid, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to illustrate how necropolitics operates.
4. Violence and Control:
Unlike biopolitics, which focuses on fostering life and managing populations, necropolitics legitimizes violence, oppression, and the destruction of life as tools of political control.
5. Technologies of Death:
Mbembe highlights how modern technologies, such as drones, surveillance, and militarized borders, facilitate necropolitics by enabling states to target and kill populations with precision while maintaining control over life and death remotely.
Examples of Necropolitics
1. Colonialism:
Colonial regimes often operated necropolitically, subjecting colonized peoples to violence, forced labor, and exploitation, treating them as disposable.
2. Slavery:
Mbembe references slavery as a necropolitical structure where enslaved individuals were reduced to “living dead.” their lives stripped of autonomy and reduced to mere labor.
3. War and Terrorism:
Practices such as targeted killings, indefinite detentions, and the use of drones in warfare expose populations to death as a normalized part of political strategy.
4. Structural Oppression:
Necropolitics can also be seen in systemic inequalities, such as environmental racism, where marginalized communities are disproportionately exposed to harmful living conditions, effectively shortening their lives.
Significance of Necropolitics Today
In contemporary contexts, necropolitics helps analyze phenomena like:
The militarization of borders and the treatment of migrants as expendable.
The disproportionate impact of pandemics, poverty, and climate change on marginalized populations.
State violence and police brutality targeting racial or ethnic minorities.
The commodification and disposability of life in capitalist systems.
Necropolitics reveals the darker side of power, showing how political systems normalize death and suffering as tools of governance.
