War-torn states serve capital as plunder zones free of state duties

Evidence

One great value of Badiou’s intervention3 is that it checks any temptation to treat all this as if were just a mistake. As Badiou makes clear, from the point of view of capital, the Iraq war and its consequences were not some blunder. They were an opportunity to trial a new form of (post)colonialism, in which states of conflict open up a temporary autonomous zone for capital accumulation, and plundering can continue without the irksome duties involved in setting up and running a state. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2014

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Naomi Klein’s ‘disaster capitalism’ and to the shock-doctrine thesis — deliberate use of crisis for accumulation. — connects to: Exporting state violence abroad freed capital accumulation from economic and ethical law — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 371; State violence operating outside its own rules constitutes informal sovereignty; Enclave economies centered on resource extraction become privileged spaces of war — Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, 134

Broader Connections

• Exporting state violence abroad freed capital accumulation from economic and ethical law #corroborates (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 371
• State violence operating outside its own rules constitutes informal sovereignty #expands (0.80)
• Enclave economies centered on resource extraction become privileged spaces of war #expands (0.78) — Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, 134