State Phobia?

I recently read a very thought-provoking essay written by a colleague about the relationship between structures of feeling and power. This description is a simplification, but since the essay is currently under review I don’t want to divulge any of the broader arguments. One of the more specific points the author makes, extending the work of French theorist Michel Foucault, is that one (among many) of the ways in which neo-liberalism can be characterized is through a particular structure of feeling (‘atmosphere’) called state phobia. This is a general concern about the excessive nature of the state, particularly as it governs (regulates) markets.

This idea really fascinates me, working in a context where there is no clearly discernible state – at least according to the standards and measures of liberal democracy. Instead there is an (Israeli) occupying power, which crudely speaking, seeks to govern (secure) as much territory as possible with as few political subjects therein, and a (Palestinian) ‘Authority’, which partially governs subjects but controls little territory, or hardly any of the territory it aspires to govern, regardless of whether these aspirations relate to pre ’48 or ’67 lands. (I wonder if in its current state, the Palestinian Authority might be better thought of as a management firm). The question therefore, is if state phobia is characteristic of neo-liberalism in liberal-democratic societies as my colleague argues, what happens to this relationship (between state phobia and neoliberalism) in the absence of the liberal democratic state/space?

From where I write, my initial thoughts are that there is a range of sometimes complimentary, sometimes contradictory structures of feeling in relation to the state, some of which are developing through current economic practices that might be considered neoliberal.

1. A long-standing desire for a Palestinian nation-state (that stretches back into the British mandatory period at least).
2. A more recent longing - at least among some Palestinians, particularly in Ramallah, for a good life, defined as economic advancement. This longing has sidelined/superseded the previous desire for a political state, in part due to the length of time such a hope has gone unrealized. This second structure of feeling resonates with…
3. A (even more?) recent dream of economic nationalism as a precursor to political nationalism (Fayyadism, although it remains to be seen how widely this dream is shared, although Fayyad does command the infrastructure of the PA). This politics shares a not so secret affinity with…
4. A dream of economic nationalism in place of political nationalism (Netanyahu’s economic peace). Something that is akin to a contemporary refiguring of...
5. Zionist practices of erasure in relation to Palestine/Palestinians, which in some ways could be narrated as an Israeli phobia of a Palestinian state.
6. A Palestinian phobia of the Israeli state, as it is manifest through colonialism.

(N.B. This list doesn’t even begin to comprehend the atmospheres circulating among Palestinians living in spaces of refuge and diaspora).

At present then, I’m inclined to think that (a) state phobia in this context is related to colonialism as much as capitalism, and offers insight into the multiple ways in which colonialism and capitalism resonate together, which is to say that it is not simply that neoliberalism opportunistically fills (or maps onto) the state-free site of colonial subjugation (b) there are important and complex geographical dimensions to the problem of state phobia and neoliberalism (and this is perhaps where my bracketed references to diaspora and refugees needs to be taken into account to a much greater extent).