‘A Brighter and Nicer New Life’: Security as Pacification

The article argues that the process of securing the insecurity of capitalist accumulation might best be understood as a process of pacification. Pacification is closely connected to the Vietnam War, but the article suggests that pacification has a much longer history, linking the original accumulati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social & legal studies 2011-06, Vol.20 (2), p.191-208
Main Author: Neocleous, Mark
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accumulation
Capitalism
Colonies & territories
Counterterrorism
Drug policy
Drugs
Insecurity
Police
Power
Security
Social control
Social structure
Social theory
Terrorism
Vietnam War
War
Well-being
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Summary:The article argues that the process of securing the insecurity of capitalist accumulation might best be understood as a process of pacification. Pacification is closely connected to the Vietnam War, but the article suggests that pacification has a much longer history, linking the original accumulation in the colonies with the movement towards capitalism in the West. Read in this way, pacification is a form of police power, securing the insecurity of capitalist order. This helps us make sense of the permanent ‘wars on ... ’ being declared by capitalist states, from the war on drugs to the war on terror, and suggests that ‘pacification’ is a crucial concept for understanding security.
ISSN:0964-6639
1461-7390
DOI:10.1177/0964663910395816