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STASIS M E R I D I A N Crossing Aesthetics Werner Hamacher Editor STASIS Civil War as a Political Paradigm (Homo Sacer II, 2) Giorgio Agamben Translated by Nicholas Heron stanford university press stanford, california Stanford University Press Stanford, California English translation © 2015 Giorgio Agamben. All rights reserved. Published by Stanford University Press. Stasis: Civil War as a Political Paradigm was originally published in Italian in 2015 under the title Stasis: La Guerra civile come paradigma politico ©2015 Giorgio Agamben, originally published by Bollati Boringhieri editore, Torino. This book was negotiated through Agnese Incisa Agenzia Letteraria, Torino. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Agamben, Giorgio, 1942- author. [Stasis. English] Stasis : civil war as a political paradigm / Giorgio Agamben ; translated by Nicholas Heron. pages cm -- (Meridian, crossing aesthetics) “Originally published in Italian in 2015 under the title Stasis: la guerra civile come paradigma politico.” “The two texts published here reproduce, with slight variations and additions, two seminars on civil war given at Princeton University in October 2001.” Includes bibliographical references. isbn 978-0-8047-9605-7 (cloth : alk. paper) -- isbn 978-0-8047-9731-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- isbn 978-0-8047-9732-0 (eBook) 1. Civil war--Philosophy. 2. Political science--Philosophy. 3. Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679. Leviathan. I. Title. II. Series: Meridian (Stanford, Calif.) jc328.5.a32613 2015 303.6'401--dc23 2015026027 Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 11/14.5 Adobe Garamond Contents Foreword ix 1. Stasis 1 2. Leviathan and Behemoth 25 Bibliography 71 Foreword The two texts published here reproduce, with slight variations and additions, two seminars on civil war given at Princeton University in October 2001. It is up to readers to determine to what extent the theses advanced here – which identify the fundamental threshold of politicisation in the West in civil war and the constitutive element of the modern State in ‘ademia’ (that is, in the absence of a people) – still apply, or whether, to the contrary, the passage into the dimension of global civil war has altered their meaning in an essential manner.