The world is a garden : Nomos, sovereignty, and the (contested) ordering of life

Mabon, Simon (2019) The world is a garden : Nomos, sovereignty, and the (contested) ordering of life. Review of International Studies, 45 (5). pp. 870-890. ISSN 0260-2105

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Abstract

Traditional approaches to questions about nomos in IR typically focus upon either its establishment and the formal structures that emerge through interaction within a clearly delineated spatial area, or an exploration of US hegemony in the post-2003 world. In this article I posit a different approach, building on the ideas of Giorgio Agamben, which grounds nomos as a spatialisation of the exception within conditions of neoliberal modernity. I suggest that within the global nomos are more localised nomoi. These localised nomoi are a consequence of the spatialisation of the exception and a fundamental tension between localisation and ordering. I argue that while sovereign power has been a source of contemporary scholarship, such explorations have paid scant attention to the regulatory power of normative values and their capacity to create order within space. Such norms allow for a greater awareness of how sovereign power can be mobilised in and of itself as a form of contestation. Locating such debates in the Middle East, I explore the concept of nomos to understand how struggle over the localisation and ordering of space helps us to better understand contemporary political life.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Review of International Studies
Additional Information:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-international-studies/article/world-is-a-garden-nomos-sovereignty-and-the-contested-ordering-of-life/70E143EC2E8A27335219916D19428FC0 The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Review of International Studies, 45, 5, pp 870-890 2019, © 2019 Cambridge University Press.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3320
Subjects:
?? political science and international relationssociology and political science ??
ID Code:
134852
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
22 Jun 2019 09:19
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
19 Mar 2024 00:39