Comprehension of biopolitics in Arendt and Agamben: An evaluation on individual and state

Biopolitics refers to the direct decision-making role played by the power in an exclusionary or inclusive way on the body of the individual at every stage of political life. In this sense, biopolitics is a more comprehensive notion that can also express a fine line between democracies and totalitarian regimes. In this respect, Hannah Arendt and Giorgio Agamben's political philosophy includes biopolitical thought. Arendt builds her political philosophy on biopolitics even though she does not use the notion of biopolitics. However, it has been found that there is a biopolitical approach in Arendt's thoughts. The aim of this study is to examine the ways in which the concept of biopolitics is handled by Arendt and Agamben and to try to provide in the similar and different aspects of their perspectives on biopolitics. The significance of this study is that it reveals the biopolitical interpretation of the relationship between the individual and the state in the direction of Agamben and Arendt, based on the similarities and differences of both thinkers. This study aims to examine the ways in which both thinkers arrive at the notion of biopolitics by explaining in detail the relationship between citizenship and democracy and the individual and the state in a detailed way. The method of this study is based on conceptual analysis and a comparision of the ways Arendt and Agamben follow to reach the notion of biopolitics in their political thoughts. The study propounds that while Arendt has a biopolitical understanding, she also has a lot in common with Agamben. In other words, both thinkers establish their political thoughts on the individual's political and non-political life and carry their thoughts to the present by associating them with democracy and totalitarianism. Besides, this study also examines the biological life of the citizen, who is the subject of political life in the thoughts of Agamben and Arendt, in three different dimensions. These dimensions are; the body of the citizen in a political status, the body of the citizen in a refugee status, and the body of the prisoner in the concentration camp. As a result of the study, it is concluded that Arendt adopts the birth policy since she tries to transform the individual, who is objectified by the power, into the subject of politics. On the other hand, Agamben, puts the death policy at the center since he argues that the individual who is objectified by the power, cannot become a subject again. Therefore, in this study, the position of the individual against power is explained from two different biopolitical perspectives. The findings of the study prove that Arendt and Agamben put forward the same biopolitical approach with different notions in the analysis of individual and power. However, while Arendt adopts the positive biopolitical thinking approach, Agamben adopts the negative one. In this context, in this study, these two approaches are carried to the present and the biopolitical position of the citizen in modern democracy is explained in a detailed way. Keywords: Arendt, Agamben, Biopolitics, Power, Public Sphere, Totalitarian, Violence, Individual