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3 Law and violence

Abstract

This chapter explores the central claim regarding the sovereign’s monopoly on violence. This monopoly is supposed to produce peace and hence sovereignty is understood to be pacific and yet the sovereign retains an intimate proximity to violence throughout a time of peace, most notable in the capacity to pronounce a death sentence on a criminal. The chapter explores the connection through the work of Robert Cover, Giorgio Agamben and Jacques Derrida, and is primarily focussed on the character of Batman. It examines the law’s violence as well as the proximity of the sovereign to the beast in order to destabilise the division between these supposedly antithetical principles.

Abstract

This chapter explores the central claim regarding the sovereign’s monopoly on violence. This monopoly is supposed to produce peace and hence sovereignty is understood to be pacific and yet the sovereign retains an intimate proximity to violence throughout a time of peace, most notable in the capacity to pronounce a death sentence on a criminal. The chapter explores the connection through the work of Robert Cover, Giorgio Agamben and Jacques Derrida, and is primarily focussed on the character of Batman. It examines the law’s violence as well as the proximity of the sovereign to the beast in order to destabilise the division between these supposedly antithetical principles.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i 1
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Acknowledgments ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. 1 Legitimacy and the Good 11
  7. 2 Defending freedom 34
  8. 3 Law and violence 58
  9. 4 Friend and enemy 82
  10. 5 Emergency and bare life 104
  11. 6 Symbolic authority and kinship 128
  12. 7 Sovereignty at the limit 153
  13. Postscript 179
  14. Bibliography 183
  15. Index 197
Sovereignty and superheroes
This chapter is in the book Sovereignty and superheroes
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781784997007.00008

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i 1
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Acknowledgments ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. 1 Legitimacy and the Good 11
  7. 2 Defending freedom 34
  8. 3 Law and violence 58
  9. 4 Friend and enemy 82
  10. 5 Emergency and bare life 104
  11. 6 Symbolic authority and kinship 128
  12. 7 Sovereignty at the limit 153
  13. Postscript 179
  14. Bibliography 183
  15. Index 197
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