State power requires mobilized bodies and collapses without them

Evidence

Arendt explained that, owing to this fundamental corporeal dependence, the power of the state—even in the most authoritarian of regimes—must, despite everything, be power and not pure violence. There is no power without bodies. But, as she in a way acknowledged, the reciprocal statement is true: with no bodies mobilized, there is no longer any power. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 697

Categorization

• XREF: The opposite of the bodiless drone-state ideal; contrasts bodies-based power with machine violence. — connects to: Without mobilized bodies there is no state power, only violence.; State power depends materially on the bodies citizens lend it.; State power depends on borrowing the bodies of its subjects — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 695 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Force superiority within a territory requires organized mobilization of resources #expands (0.85)
• State dependence on soldiers’ bodies secured social bargaining power #corroborates (0.75)
• Enforced covenants require a sovereign power to prevent collapse into war #expands (0.60) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2023