0013 At the end of the introduction, the authors list a number of dichotomies, including security and insecurity, schizorevolutionary and microfascist, autonomous desire and fear management, state insecurity and resistance movements.  But, the existential dichotomy is not listed.  Instead, the authors discuss the state in existential crisis.

The state_2b (mis)perceives insecurity and disorder when the hustle, bustle and occasional squabbles among institutions_3aCdoes not comport with the demiurge_3cC that defines_3b the state_2b as emerging from the potential of ‘domination’_1b.  For the securitization state_2b, that demiurge is fear_3cC.

0014 When the state_2b then responds to the perceived sources of insecurity, the state_2b acts against institutions_3aCpursuing their own organizational objectives_2aC on the basis of their own righteousness_1aC.  The state_2b defines some institutions_3a as dangerous_2b on the basis of promoting unsanctioned violence_1a, spreading unsanctioned information_1aand cultivating unsanctioned charismatic influence_1a.  The state2b will degrade these institutions_3aC into networks.

What about the other institutions_3aC?

Oh, they are not dangerous because they conform.

They are sanctioned.

0015 Consequently, the content level divides into conforming institutions and non-conforming networks.

0016 Even though conforming institutions_3aC (such as education, healthcare, civic administration, industry, labor, and so on) retain their originating righteousnesses_1aC, they adopt the three imperatives of domination, such as forced choice (violence, P1), restricted information (administration, P2) and reputation management (charisma, P3) according to state_2bdecrees emerging from the possibility of ‘control’_1b in a normal context_3b defined by a higher loyalty_2cC.

The situation… or is it the perspective?.. confuses.

Under the demiurge of fear_2cC, certain institutions_3aC may perceive themselves as operating under sovereign power_3bC, but they are not.  They are under suspicion by the state_2b.  They are networks_3aC that are subject to domination_2a because their righteousness_1a cannot be put into perspective_1c.

Why can’t institutions_3aC defined as nonconforming be put into perspective?

0017 Unsupervised righteousness_1a’ is not subject to the state control_1c’.

As the authors say (more or less), “The state_2c’ perceives chaos when the order of a network_3a’ (that is, its ‘righteousness’_1a’) is incompatible with the potential_1c’ of the state_2c’ (that is, ‘domination’ and ‘control’_1c’).”

0018 How long has this been going on?

The authors speculate that the basic logic of dual power (the defining power_3c’ humanizing conforming institutions_3b’ and dehumanizing nonconforming networks_3a’) goes back to the earliest states.  As such, the state_2c’ is a repressive, anti-productive force, that seeks to regulate, overdetermine, block and subjugate social relations_3aC through domination_1c’.  It_2c’ takes productive institutions_3aC and turns them into organs of state production_3b’, thus extending the reality of the state system.  It_2c’ takes productive institutions_3aC and degrades them into networks_3a’ through microfascist aggression, yielding distinctions such as schizoid (the state_2c’ is an illusion) and paranoid (the state_2c’ is out to get me and my network).

0019 What does this imply in terms of the content-level of institutions_3aC splitting into two?

 To me, it implies that the differentiated approach dissolves and a new interscope coaleses in the definition approach.  Fear_2cC, the perspective-level relational object, transcends this interscope.  Hence, the resulting interscope is existential in the sense that situation-level state_2b becomes a perspective-level actuality_2c’ within an interscope conditioned by the demiurge of fear_2cC.  Then, conforming institutions_3aC enter into the situation (or now, compliant) level of the new interscope.  Plus, nonconforming networks_3aC end up in the content (or anarchy) level of the new interscope.

0020 Here is a picture of the resulting interscope of fear_2cC.

0021 Does this match Karatzogianni and Robinson’s argument?

Yes and no.

Yes, the interscope of fear_2cC corresponds to the tenor of their argument in the section, “The State in Existential Crisis”.

No, the subsequent sections, “Anarchy and State Securitisation” and “State Terror Produces Network Terror”, deals with only the state_c’ and the anarchy_a’ levels.