Formal democratic liberties rest on an unseen foundation of physical coercion

Evidence

The real, corporal disciplines constituted the foundation of the formal, juridical liberties. The contract may have been regarded as the ideal foundation of law and political power; panopticism constituted the technique, universally widespread, of coercion. It continued to work in depth on the juridical structures of society, in order to make the effective mechanisms of power function in opposition to the formal framework that it had acquired. The ‘Enlightenment’, which discovered the liberties, also invented the disciplines. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 346

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends the reader’s Bentham/Foucault panoptic thesis; also resonates with Orwell’s telescreen world in 1984 where the formal ‘rights’ of Oceania mask pervasive surveillance self-policing. — connects to: Coercive government power depends on voluntary cooperation from many; Physical force constitutes power because it asymmetrically orders parties’ relative preferences; Democratic freedoms only function where citizens form groups or hierarchies — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 749 (+11 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The paradox that the Enlightenment’s egalitarian legal framework was underwritten by minute disciplinary coercions — a claim dense enough to sit with, and it reframes the entire reading of the panopticon.

Broader Connections

• Coercive government power depends on voluntary cooperation from many #complicates (0.82)
• Physical force constitutes power because it asymmetrically orders parties’ relative preferences #expands (0.78)