Going through airport security. Arms raised, legs spread apart. Submission. You must submit. You must be seen to submit. (Legs a little wider please.) You must demonstrate with your body your total submission.
The neoliberal sovereign, no longer the straightforward result of local political processes, is a transnational consortium of state and corporate powers. A hydra.
“The declaration of the state of exception has gradually been replaced by an unprecedented generalization of the paradigm of security as the normal technique of government.”
Search and replace all instances of “your security comes first” with “the assertion of the power of the sovereign over your body, over your life, comes first.” Again what we are seeing is the admission, in vulgar language, of the structures of control already well in place.
The frequency with which one encounters the idea that police acted in accordance with their training, or the idea that such-and-such a person was “following protocol,” are but two instances of the incursion of the paradigm of security into everyday life.