Biopolitical Imperialism and Necropolitics: David Hare’s Via Dolorosa

Abstract

Biopolitical imperialism is an extension of Michel Foucault's biopolitics and Lenin's imperialism. Mark G. E. Kelly emphasises the biopolitical nature of imperialism in colonised Third World nations. Likewise, Achille Mbembe's necropolitics is an outgrowth of Foucault's biopolitics. It also heavily relies on Giorgio Agamben's notion of a state of exception. Mbembe's paradigm for necropolitics is centred on the value of human life, namely the power of colonial powers to decide who should die and who should survive. David Hare’s Via Dolorosa has been the source of great interest since its first premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London in 1997. The play considers one of the most devastating events in world politics, the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Via Dolorosa also shows how biopolitical imperialism works and offers a necropolitical landscape with states that have power over life and those that only have power over death. The play, which reminds the audience of the Holocaust, not only links biopolitical elements of imperialism and necropolitics, but also shows that victims may become victimizers. This article explores the biopolitical imperialist and necropolitical aspects of Hare's Via Dolorosa.