The biopolitics of the pandemic: Agamben and Bolsonaro walk into a bar

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic which changed the lives of people around the world unveiled surprising “elective affinities” between the critics of the State of exception and the fans of the State of exception. This work discusses why the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben presented theses about the pandemic that most resemble the negationist speeches of the president of Brazil. More than a mere mistaken political analysis of the pandemic, we understand that the theses defended by Agamben stem from the very theory of biopolitics that the philosopher developed in his most celebrated texts. In this article, we first seek to specify the foundations of the theory of biopolitics developed by Agamben. In a second moment, we show how the ideas of the Italian philosopher are aligned with what has been defended by President Bolsonaro. Finally, we explain why Agamben's texts on the pandemic are a logical consequence of what he had developed in his theory of biopolitics.