Source: Universities – Science Po in English
Human lives are one of the two elements that are constitutive of an equilibrium where lives are put in balance with interests. This balance between lives and interests, I argue, is constitutive of the political as a sphere. As in every other form of exchange, we can use one element to measure the other. This is the reason why lives are the measure of our interests, as much as interests are the measure of our lives.
Indeed, we pay for lives by making concessions with our interests (whether they are political, such as in the field of security, what we consider to be our “national interest”, or economic), and, we pay with lives in pursuit of some of the goals that constitute for us primary interests (in war, for example, but, as I argue in the book, in many other fields as well, such as in the domain of global health).
This balance is constitutive of the political, in so far as measurement is the challenge of politics defined as an art, and maintaining the stability of that delicate equilibrium is an essential task. I borrow examples from different countries and different time periods: I want to show how this principle is widely shared throughout time and space.
States have the upper hand in this process, and they usually rule over who gets what, as well as who must sacrifice their lives and who gets to be saved. However, we see two other players in this game: markets and communities.
The market is a place where these exchanges take place—i.e. when claims for reparations are filed, when companies get fined because of the harm they might cause to the environment, or when insurance companies price the lives of hostages.
Communities also take an active role and, depending on the political context they are in, could even have a bigger role in the balancing of lives and interests. Communities get reparations for historical injustices, “communities” of victims in the U.S. were granted reparations in the aftermath of 9/11. We may consider that communities in the Amazon should get reparations because of the damages caused to the environment.
I also discuss in my book other cases that are related to migration, where I argue that communities of migrants should benefit from financial support when their lives are endangered.