Producing 'responsible' self-governance: counterinsurgency and the violence of neoliberal rule

摘要

This article analyses western counterinsurgency as a neoliberal assemblage of war, police and government 'at a distance'. It will show that based on so-called lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, western counterinsurgency has increasingly shifted towards 'intervention at-a distance' aimed at enabling local powerbrokers to become more capable of fighting insurgents, of policing their population and of governing more responsibly. This bears a strong similarity to the old imperial practice of indirect rule. And, just like indirect rule, intervention at a distance rarely if ever succeeds in promoting responsible self-governance. In fact, counterinsurgency-type interventions frequently end up exacerbating the very irresponsible and illiberal types of governance that lead to instability in the first place. The article shows that the coercion and violence of counterinsurgency operations flows directly from its attempts to promote responsible self-governance and from the very likely failure of these attempts. This also has implications for neoliberal rule in general. The conclusion will thus consider whether a critical reading of neoliberal counterinsurgency may also lead to an insurgent reading of neoliberal rule in general.