DEBT AND GUILT BLOOMSBURY POLITICAL THEOLOGIES Edited by Ward Blanton (University of Kent), Arthur Bradley (Lancaster University), Michael Dillon (Lancaster University), and Yvonne Sherwood (University of Kent) This series explores the past, present, and future of political theology. Taking its cue from the ground-breaking work of such figures as Derrida, Agamben, Badiou, and Žižek, it seeks to provide a forum for new research on the theologico-political nexus including cutting edge monographs, edited collections, and translations of classic works. By privileging creative, interdisciplinary and experimental work that resists easy categorization, this series not only re-assets the timeliness of political theology in our epoch but seeks to extend political theological reflection into new territory: law, economics, finance, technology, media, film, and art. In Bloomsbury Political Theologies, we seek to reinvent the ancient problem of political theology for the 21st century. International Advisory Board Agata Bielik-Robson (University of Nottingham) Howard Caygill (Kingston University) Simon Critchley (New School of Social Research) Roberto Esposito (Scuola Normale Superiore) Elettra Stimilli (Sapienza University of Rome) Miguel Vatter (University of New South Wales) Titles in the series: Massimo Cacciari, The Withholding Power: An Essay on Political Theology Michel de Certeau, The Weakness of Belief Charlie Gere, Unnatural Theology Andrew Gibson, Modernity and the Political Fix Elettra Stimilli, Debt and Guilt Thomas Lynch, Apocalyptic Political Theology DEBT AND GUILT A political philosophy ELETTRA STIMILLI Translated by STEFANIA PORCELLI BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC, and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published as Debito e colpa, Ediesse 2015 This version published 2019 Copyright © Elettra Stimilli, 2015, 2019 Elettra Stimilli has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. Cover design: Irene Martinez-Costa Cover image © Claire Fontaine: P.I.G.S., 2011 (detail of Greece) Matchsticks. plaster wall, concealed corridor, H.D. video projection. Photo © Nacho López / Courtesy: Claire Fontaine and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León The translation of the work was funded by the “Scuola Normale Superiore” and the “Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca”. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: 978-1-3500-6342-6 PB: 978-1-3500-6343-3 ePDF: 978-1-3500-6339-6 eBook: 978-1-3500-6340-2 Series: Political Theologies Typeset by Newgen KnowledgeWorks Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters. CONTENTS Introduction 1 1 Debt: Between appropriation, exchange, and gift 7 The problematic context 7 Appropriation 10 Exchange 19 Gift 28 Debt 32 2 An open question 39 The neoliberal turn 39 The society of generalized debt 46 The paradigm of man in debt 54 3 Between political theology and economic theology 61 Beyond the boundaries of economic science 61 Religion, politics, and economics 65 “Faith” in the era of the predominance of finance 72 Debt and sacrifice 76 Guilt and violence: At the origin of juridical power 80 4 The religion of debt 89 Bare life and the law 89 Capitalism: A cult with no theology 94 Economy and regulatory experimentation 101 The invention of oikonomia 108 Debt as investment 116 vi CONTENTS 5 The psychic life of debt 125 The guilt of being in debt 125 Establishing the rule: Psychic dimension and social sphere 132 Feminism and neoliberalism 138 The mystery of guilt and the psychic life of power 145 Envisioning new ways of assuming power 153 Conclusions 159 Bibliography 163 Index 171 Introduction This study began in the first phase of the recent financial crisis, during which the problem of debt emerged primarily in the United States where, following the expansion of extremely complex and risky financial products, new forms of private debt spread in unprecedented ways that led to the collapse of the entire American economic system. However, the crisis soon reached beyond US borders. Between 2011 and 2012, as Greece—along with other countries in the European Union, including Italy—risked default, debt became a topical issue in Europe alongside austerity policies promoted by the so-called troika (European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund, and European Commission). “Austerity” became the key word that prevailed in European economic policies led by the “German model” that advanced the perception that indebted countries were “guilty.” Hence the link between “debt” and “guilt”—inherent in the German word Schuld/Schulden, which contains both meanings—and from which this study takes its cues. The main purpose of this book is to unveil the theoretical implications of this semantic relationship by engaging with the most relevant studies on debt published in the past few years, and by 2 DEBT AND GUILT: A POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY considering the debate that followed the publication of a previous work of mine on the same topic—The Debt of the Living: Ascesis and Capitalism (see Stimilli 2017)—which I began to write when the crisis was only beginning and which was published in Italian in the midst of the economic emergency of 2011. The present book builds on the previous one, although each can be easily read independently. In the light of the recent economic recovery measures, which aim at opposing systems of austerity ruling in Europe thus far, I would like to reflect on the dispositif underlying the economy of debt that has prevailed in recent years. The question I will attempt to answer concerns the extent to which the “condition of debt” tackled by the recent austerity regime can be identified as a condition to be emended, as indicated by the burden of sacrifices imposed by policies of austerity. I also wonder whether the economy of debt and the policies aimed at relaunching the economy really correspond to two opposite perspectives, as it would appear at first glance; or whether, instead, there is a more complex mechanism that they share despite their somewhat divergent intentions, and which engages individual lives in such a radical way that it even becomes plausible to speak of a real “anthropological mutation.” Following the trajectory of well-known research—such as Max Weber’s classic study or, more recently, that of Michel Foucault—and returning to the prophetic words of a fragment by Walter Benjamin on capitalism as a cult that creates debt, this work intends to place the problem of debt in a more articulated context than the strictly technical milieu of economists, using resources from various disciplines in an attempt to conduct a survey in which economy is INTRODUCTION 3 no longer placed in overly narrow boundaries, but within the broader space that it deserves. It is not easy to return to topics one has already tackled. When I was asked to write this book, I hesitated; I was convinced that I could not deal with issues I had already had the opportunity to explore in a different way. The direct confrontation with questions that are currently pressing—through an investigation that takes its cues specifically from the contemporary situation but that will carry out a broader theoretical reflection—has instead allowed me to open new fields of inquiry, which I hope can contribute something to the present debate. I have treasured the opportunities I have had to discuss these issues. In the end, this book is nothing more than an attempt at a single long answer to all the questions raised on those occasions. I sometimes changed my position, but at times I relied on the same arguments placed in a new context. In particular, I  remember attending the Conference on the Autonomy of the Political at the Jan Van Eyck Academy in Maastricht in 2011, and the Annual Conference of the British Society for Phenomenology in Oxford, as well as the seminar at the Center for a Critical Philosophy at the University of Pisa in 2013. The discussions at the seminar on “Feminism and Neoliberalism” organized at the University of Salerno in 2013; the discussion with Maurizio Lazzarato at the roundtable organized at the 2013 Belgrade Book Fair; the seminar at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of St. Gallen that same year; and participation in the International Conference on “Political Abilities: The Sense of Subjectification” at the University of Innsbruck in 2014 were also very