Colonial rule operates by suspending judicial order

Evidence

In the same context, colonies are similar to the frontiers. They are inhabited by “savages.” The colonies are not organized in a state form and have not created a human world. Their armies do not form a distinct entity, and their wars are not wars between regular armies. They do not imply the mobilization of sovereign subjects (citizens) who respect each other as enemies. They do not establish a distinction between combatants and noncombatants, or again between an “enemy” and a “criminal.” It is thus impossible to conclude peace with them. In sum, colonies are zones in which war and disorder, internal and external figures of the political, stand side by side or alternate with each other. As such, the colonies are the location par excellence where the controls and guarantees of judicial order can be suspended—the zone where the violence of the state of exception is deemed to operate in the service of “civilization.” — Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, 79

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the colony as ‘the location par excellence’ of the state of exception — a key concept for the scaffolding toolkit.
• XREF: Connects to Agamben’s state of exception and Schmitt’s friend/enemy distinction, central scaffolding concepts. — connects to: Colonial sovereignty operates outside legal and institutional rules of warfare — Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, 84; Colonial powers impose a double moral standard demanding restraint only from the colonized; Spanish colonial law escalated punishments for escaped slaves to death — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 652
• ADDENDUM: Directly extends ‘On Sacrifice’ themes — the colony as the zone where the violence of exception runs in service of ‘civilization’ parallels the sacrificial logic of foundational violence.

Related

• Colonial sovereignty operates outside legal and institutional rules of warfare (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Colonial sovereignty operates outside legal and institutional rules of warfare #expands (0.90) — Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, 84
• Spanish colonial law escalated punishments for escaped slaves to death #exemplifies (0.78) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 652
• Colonial powers impose a double moral standard demanding restraint only from the colonized #expands (0.75)