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Theory, Culture & Society
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Manufacturing Emergencies

Ryan Bishop

National University of Singapore

John Phillips

National University of Singapore

The article examines the distinction between the state of emergency and the normal state and an inherent undecidability at the base of the distinction. We argue that states of emergency arise from strategic sovereign decisions to divide visible from invisible, enemy from ally, underground economy from above-ground, illegitimate war from legitimate war. The capacity to so divide is manifested, for instance, in the technology of air raid sirens in a way that indicates the momentum of the technicity that covertly underlies sovereign power. The article, furthermore, shows how the distinction between the visible and the invisible can serve as a mystification, perpetuating the state of emergency by disguising the intrinsic connection between the two domains.

Key Words: critical theory • Derrida • division • politics • sovereignty • technics

Theory, Culture & Society, Vol. 19, No. 4, 91-102 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/0263276402019004007
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