Sovereignty,policing and legitimacy: Minorities and the state of exception in a democratic polity

Abstract

This article describes and conceptualizes the experiences of police actions in the performance of a politics of exception in a democratic polity. In conversation with Carl Schmitt’s authoritarian conservative understanding of “the people”, the narrative dwells on the role of the police in the assertions of sovereign legitimacy under a right-wing government. Surplus targeting and violence against a minority is deemed legitimate based on the will of the people evidently ratified through democratic exercises. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic data, the article shows the everyday abjection and scapegoating of minorities as constitutive of a democratized politics of exception. While emphasizing the descriptive significance of Giorgio Agamben’s idea of the homo sacer, the article calls for greater attention to right-wing perceptions of legitimacy, which may diverge from normative interpretations based on Max Weber’s work.