Neoliberal geopolitics froze time and controls territory through normalized exception

Evidence

The regime of container states froze space and relativized time. Those considered racially less developed within or as states could become more so by progressively taking on the qualities and qualifications of those deemed more advanced, of the racially more mature. By contrast, the regime of traffic cop states out to order flows freezes time and controls through special regulation, through normalized exception. It makes static the racially dismissed (the permanently temporary state) and undertakes to control through spatial regulation and geostrategic coordination. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1813

Categorization

• DEFINE: Contrasts the ‘container state’ regime (colonial-era, froze space, relativized time, allowed progress) with the ‘traffic cop state’ regime (neoliberal, freezes time, controls through spatial regulation and normalized exception).
• DEEPTHINKING: The inversion is striking: colonial racism offered the promise of ‘catching up’ (time as the axis of progress); neoliberal racism forecloses that promise and shifts control to space and flow-regulation. A dense re-mapping of how racial hierarchy operates in each regime.
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberals exploit emergency exceptions to bypass democratic accountability. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 980