TY - JOUR
T1 - The organization (Ângkar) as a state of exception
T2 - the case of the S-21 extermination camp, Phnom Penh
AU - Cunha, Miguel Pina e
AU - Clegg, Stewart
AU - Rego, Arménio
AU - Lancione, Michele
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to the Editor and our reviewers for their comments and suggestions. Miguel Cunha gratefully acknowledges support from Nova Forum.
PY - 2012/8
Y1 - 2012/8
N2 - Organization theory, Clegg pointed out, has failed to address the role of organizations in some of the crimes of/against humanity, suggesting that more attention should be given to the case of total institutions. With this paper we respond to Clegg's invitation and study the S-21 extermination camp, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We do so by engaging with the work of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, with the aim of investigating the organizational patterns that constitute the camp as a 'State of Exception'. Doing so shows us how organizations can become malign forces for evil. We explore the implications of this case for more general 'Kafkaesque organization', that sometimes reproduce, in more benign forms, many of the practices found at S-21.
AB - Organization theory, Clegg pointed out, has failed to address the role of organizations in some of the crimes of/against humanity, suggesting that more attention should be given to the case of total institutions. With this paper we respond to Clegg's invitation and study the S-21 extermination camp, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We do so by engaging with the work of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, with the aim of investigating the organizational patterns that constitute the camp as a 'State of Exception'. Doing so shows us how organizations can become malign forces for evil. We explore the implications of this case for more general 'Kafkaesque organization', that sometimes reproduce, in more benign forms, many of the practices found at S-21.
KW - Bare life
KW - Bios
KW - Cambodia
KW - Evil organizations
KW - Kafkaesque organizing
KW - Khmer Rouge
KW - S-21
KW - State of exception
KW - Total institutions
KW - Zoe
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84865058912&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/2158379X.2012.698903
DO - 10.1080/2158379X.2012.698903
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84865058912
SN - 2158-379X
VL - 5
SP - 279
EP - 299
JO - Journal of Political Power
JF - Journal of Political Power
IS - 2
ER -