Reading Roberto Esposito’s affirmative biopolitics with Niccolo Machiavelli: possibilities and limitations

ABSTRACT

Roberto Esposito tries to overcome the crisis of contemporary politics by proposing the ‘affirmative biopolitics’ inspired by Niccolo Machiavelli’s way of thinking about politics. But does this proposal for politics allow Esposito to occupy a unique, powerful place in the constitution of contemporary politics, similar to the original position Machiavelli occupied in the constitution of modern politics? Does Esposito’s affirmative biopolitics really offer an opportunity for contemporary politics? This article, which aims to answer these questions, first argues that there is a Machiavellian mindset behind ‘affirmative biopolitics.’ It claims to represent a break in contemporary politics and a new political possibility. However, the article argues that Esposito is unable to bring to the present the innovation and radicalism that Machiavelli advocated in the literature of political philosophy and fails to offer a clear way to overcome the crisis. The article argues that this inability is due to the ambivalence of his understanding of affirmative biopolitics. On the one hand, he considers politics together with the conflict, absolving it from any external determination. On the other hand, he abrogates this autonomy by determining the purpose and direction of political activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Crisis
• conflict
• affirmation
• biopolitics
• ambivalence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).