Roberto Esposito tries to overcome the crisis of contemporary politics by proposing the ‘affirmative biopolitics’ inspired by Niccolo Machiavelli’s way of thinking about politics. But does this proposal for politics allow Esposito to occupy a unique, powerful place in the constitution of contemporary politics, similar to the original position Machiavelli occupied in the constitution of modern politics? Does Esposito’s affirmative biopolitics really offer an opportunity for contemporary politics? This article, which aims to answer these questions, first argues that there is (...) a Machiavellian mindset behind ‘affirmative biopolitics.’ It claims to represent a break in contemporary politics and a new political possibility. However, the article argues that Esposito is unable to bring to the present the innovation and radicalism that Machiavelli advocated in the literature of political philosophy and fails to offer a clear way to overcome the crisis. The article argues that this inability is due to the ambivalence of his understanding of affirmative biopolitics. On the one hand, he considers politics together with the conflict, absolving it from any external determination. On the other hand, he abrogates this autonomy by determining the purpose and direction of political activities. (shrink)

The concept of ‘immunity’ is the central notion in Roberto Esposito’s assessments of modern politics. Understanding modern politics from Esposito’s perspective is synonymous with understanding the concept of immunity. However, if one looks at modern political theory, one finds that a number of concepts such as social contract, state/sovereignty, person, property, and liberty stand out as central concepts rather than a single concept. This article argues that these concepts, which have different meanings, are part of one and the same logic, (...) and that it is possible to conceptualise this logic around ‘immunity.’ For this reason, this article proposes, first, to consider the concept of ‘immunity’ as a concept that expresses the logic to which these concepts belong. Second, it argues that the concept of immunity allows us to see the continuity between modern politics and contemporary political tendencies. Based on this argument, the article claims that Esposito increases the explanatory power of Michel Foucault’s understanding of biopolitics, which is insufficient to explain the logic of the transition from life-protective to life-hostile activities in politics. The article concludes that ‘immunity’ provides a conceptual key to understanding the possibility of totalitarianism in biopolitical times from Nazism to the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)