Homo Sacer

Homo sacer is a term of Roman law used by the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben to denote a distinction between politicized and bare life. Agamben argues that this distinction is central to the current political condition. This political condition is marked by the regularization of states of exception, where the normal law of sovereign authority does not apply, and where homo sacer is actively produced. This production shores up the borders of the political norm, distinguishing legitimate and illegitimate forms of life. Illegitimate and bare life is outside of the scope of the norm but is at the same time the central constitutive component of modern sovereignty. This entry explores Agamben's thinking on homo sacer and assesses its strength and limits against historicized accounts of politics, refugees, and the camp (the state of exception par excellence).