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Empire: Preface#3

In the Preface to Empire Hardt and Negri give a working definition of what they mean by the term. They say:

"We should emphasize that we use "Empire" here not as a metaphor, which would require demonstration of the resemblances between today's world order and the Empires of Rome, China, the Americas, and so forth, but rather as a concept, which calls primarily for a theoretical approach."

That effectively does away with a literary approach in favour of a categorical approach of Hegel--what the academic literature calls the non-metaphysical interpretation. So what does the category Empire refer to? Hardt and Negri say:

"The concept of Empire is characterized fundamentally by a lack of boundaries: Empire's rule has no limits. First and foremost, then, the concept of Empire posits a regime that effectively encompasses the spatial totality, or really that rules over the entire "civilized" world. No territorial boundaries limit its reign. Second, the concept of Empire presents itself not as a historical regime originating in conquest, but rather as an order that effectively suspends history and thereby fixes the existing state of affairs for eternity. From the perspective of Empire, this is the way things will always be and the way they were always meant to be. In other words, Empire presents its rule not as a transitory moment in the movement of history, but as a regime with no temporal boundaries and in this sense outside of history or at the end of history. Third, the rule of Empire operates on all registers of the social order extending down to the depths of the social world. Empire not only manages a territory and a population but also creates the very world it inhabits. It not only regulates human interactions but also seeks directly to rule over human nature. The object of its rule is social life in its entirety, and thus Empire presents the paradigmatic form of biopower. Finally, although the practice of Empire is continually bathed in blood, the concept of Empire is always dedicated to peace-a perpetual and universal peace outside of history."

This is a very fluid category; one that is hard to pin down. But it sounds like that Empire refers to the global market. Political authority or sovereignty resides within the political market .

If so, then this is a rupture from Aristotle, who held that politics should command the market in order to achieve the good life. It is a radical disrupture.

Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at April 21, 2004 11:50 PM | TrackBack