The Politics of Conflict: Transubstantiatory Violence in Iraq

by Monica Ingber

By looking at the problem of complicity in political violence from a social versus a legal perspective, The Politics of Conflict offers readers new insight into the ways in which violence operates. To do this, Monica Ingber applies Gilles Deleuze's analysis of the novellas of Leopold Sacher-Masoch, particularly Venus in Furs, to the politics of violence in Iraq. Specifically, Ingber develops the concept of transubstantiatory violence, to think through the relationship between social complicity and political violence. By assessing politics in Iraq through the lens of transubstantiatory violence, it becomes possible to see how social complicity validates what would be otherwise viewed as illegitimate forms of violence. This legitimization of violence is addressed through the problematization of the modern correlation of security, law, and the social contract by exploring three key areas of state-making and nation-building, political movements, and the popular militia. A serious study that makes important contributions to political science, political philosophy, and conflict studies, The Politics of Conflict demonstrates an alternative view of violence that is provocative in its ability to destabilize dominant understandings of regime violence and the counter-reactions of opposition movements.

248 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2014

Reviews

[Martin]

This book is a somewhat more sophisticated analysis of the role of violence in Iraq. There are many layers to this book and its approach to violence, from a philosophical and social, to legal. A number of (to me at least) complicated concepts are introduced such as transubstantiatory violence, social complicity, chthonic Security and chthonic constitution, in addition to more well known but still difficult concepts such as political violence and hegemony. The violence in Iraq is viewed through these concepts and Ingber shows how "social complicity validates what would be otherwise viewed as illegitimate forms of violence. This legitimization of violence is addressed through the problematization of the modern correlation of security, law, and the social contract by exploring three key areas of socio-politics: state-making and nation-building, political movements, and the popular militia." I find it an interesting and original approach to the subject and to political violence in general. I enjoyed the book, though some parts were not easy for me to digest, like chapter two "Transubstantiatory Violence", but the reason for that could be that I'm not that well read in the (some) philosophical classics such as Masoch. If you are familiar with Clausewitz, Arendt, Weber, you will however learn something new from that chapter. In conclusion Ingber writes that "Threats to the regime are reconfigured as threats to the state, thus imbuing violence with legitimacy. The analysis of regime violence along transubstantiatory lines highlights an impasse between international human rights law and sovereignty. Where human rights law is centered on human security, the referent object of security is still the state. The Dujail and Anfal trials bring this to the forefront given that the atrocities were conducted under the rubric of state security, but also clearly demonstrated the usurpation of the social contract by the law itself, thus leading to human rights abuses."