Sovereignty originally produces bare life through the state of exception.

Evidence

Homo sacer originally meant someone excluded from society because of a trespass. One may kill him without suffering punishment. The sovereign disposes of absolute power to suspend the standing legal order. He embodies the legislative power [rechtset-zende Gewalt] that stands outside of legal order [Rechtsordnung] yet maintains a relation with it. Thus, the sovereign does not need to be right to determine rights [So braucht der Souverän nicht Recht zu haben, um Recht zu setzen]. The state of exception, by suspending the legal order, produces a lawless space where it is possible for any and every individual to be seized absolutely [ein absoluter Zugriff auf jeden einzelnen möglich ist]. Sovereignty’s originary achievement is to have produced the bare life of homo sacer. This life is bare because it stands outside the legal order and therefore can be destroyed at any time. — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 128

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clear definition of the sovereign, homo sacer, and the state of exception — indispensable context for Han’s later claim that the achievement-subject is both sovereign and homo sacer.