La società contro lo Stato, lo Stato contro la società

This article analyzes the role of violence and war in contemporary political structures and their impact on the relationship between society and the state. It explores power dynamics through comparison with archaic societies and critiquing contemporary neoliberalism. By examining Pierre Clastres’ theories, the author reflects on the particular mode of developing political power in non-coercive forms, highlighting how creativity and the poetic use of words could play a socio-political role, even if they could not mitigate the burden of violence, war, and bloodshed imposed by anti-coercive machinery. The paper highlights the connection between enforcing a coercive institutional framework and using warfare in Western contexts. It also addresses modern governance practices that seek to suppress political and social dissent through violence, thereby maintaining the existing order. By eliminating spaces for anti-structure and stifling creative forms of protest, these practices — managed by an indistinguishable amalgam of political and economic forces — perpetuate insecurity and the threat of an apocalyptic end within the world’s image. Violence is used to sustain authority, thus stifling alternative visions of community and collective living based on gift and creativity, and inhibiting a popular constituent power capable of generating “new institutional forms.”