Mr Chris James Newlove

Research project: How does the concept of civil war help us to understand shifts in the trajectories of Marx, Du Bois and Foucault's work?

Abstract

Canonical accounts of civil war from Thucydides and Aristotle to Thomas Hobbes have meaning argued for theories which prioritise the prevention of civil war. Starting from this vantage point has resulted in approaches that do not adequately explore the dynamics that can sometimes arise within civil wars. Canonical accounts of civil war attempt to reconcile those with opposed interests. This research offers a critical analysis of three thinkers who believed, by contrast, that civil war was in various ways a necessity in certain situations, and in some ways a ‘productive' necessity. Drawing on discussions of civil wars from Ancient Greece to post-May ‘68 France, this research argues that Karl Marx, W.E.B Du Bois and Michel Foucault's development of the concept of civil war is central to understanding important shifts in their work. Contemporary accounts of Marx, Du Bois and Foucault have failed to grasp the importance of the concept of civil war for the thinkers mentioned thus ensuring understandings of their trajectories has been either misleading or partial. This research aims to show that Marx, Du Bois and Foucault conceive civil war as producing two counterposed dynamics; one of polarisation in which oppressed groups can form a ‘false fraternity' (Agamben, 2005) with elites, and an opposing dynamic in which emancipatory projects can assert themselves against elite interests. In some situations, by undermining the foundations of established power, civil wars can create emancipatory potential that would not exist otherwise.