Economy of Force
Counterinsurgency and the Historical Rise of the Social

A provocative new history of counterinsurgency with major implications for the history and theory of war, politics, and social science.

Patricia Owens (Author)

9781107121942, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 August 2015

382 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.7 kg

'Through a combination of historical perspective on the colonial world and contemporary inquiry into the imperial enterprise, Economy of Force invites us to rethink the laws of warfare and politics of counterinsurgency by paying attention to the pacification of local populations understood as a form of domestication. It thus unveils the genealogy of the blurred line between military and humanitarian interventions.' Didier Fassin, coeditor of Contemporary States of Emergency

Retrieving the older but surprisingly neglected language of household governance, Economy of Force offers a radical new account of the historical rise of the social realm and distinctly social theory as modern forms of oikonomikos - the art and science of household rule. The techniques and domestic ideologies of household administration are highly portable and play a remarkably central role in international and imperial relations. In two late-colonial British 'emergencies' in Malaya and Kenya, and US counterinsurgencies in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, armed social work was the continuation of oikonomia - not politics - by other means. This is a provocative new history of counterinsurgency with major implications for social, political and international theory. Historically rich and theoretically innovative, this book will interest scholars and students across the humanities and social sciences, especially politics and international relations, history of social and political thought, history of war, social theory and sociology.

1. Introduction: oikonomia in the use of force
2. The really real? A history of 'social' and 'society'
3. Out of the confines of the household?
4. The colonial limits of society
5. 'More than concentration camps': the battle for hearths in two late-colonial emergencies
6. Society itself is at war: new model pacification in Vietnam
7. Oikonomia by other means: counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and Iraq
8. Conclusion: 'it's the oikos, stupid'.

Subject Areas: Theory of warfare & military science [JWA], Warfare & defence [JW], International relations [JPS], Political science & theory [JPA], Social theory [JHBA], Sociology [JHB], History of ideas [JFCX], General & world history [HBG]