Empire - Alexis, Ramsy, Sean

Empire. World order brings an example, brought in our current times by, mainly, the UN. The UN was made as an ideological way of globalising the world [consequence of capitalist production?] however where it's theory fails to translate into practice is where our product of Empire begins. The Empire itself is the transition from nation-states to global entities validated through the juridical process of a supranational source. Empire itself constantly makes it's presence necessary, eternal and absolute and casts morality ethics and justice into new dimensions. Biopolitics is about the relationship of power applies to the individual. Foucault says that "life has become an object of power in itself". The indirect result of life is labor. Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt make reference to Marx and talk about the de-substantiation of manual labor (commodification). This translates to power being an output of life and being intrinsic to society, therefore not requiring external groups: government, Empire as it were. Alternatives to an Empire talk about the possible evolution of empires on the local and global level. They write about alternatives to the empire as a method of illusionment, specifically, the ability for segments on the local level to create a sense of identity for its members. This is done as a way to defferenciate the new social structure from the old and its flaws.

The entire text is pretty good reflection of what is happening today, 20 years later. the new alternatives to Empire are a way to brake away from the mistakes of Empire as it was built on old models that do not apply to today's global political and economical structures.