Theorizing the More-Than-Human State

Abstract

This article seeks to explore the possibilities of theorizing the more-than-human state (MTHS), by paying attention to the agentive and affective power of nonhumans as social forces—qualities that are usually believed to belong only to humans—in constructing the state’s form and strategies. For this task, I attempt to contribute to a self-reflexive debate on the strategic-relational approach (SRA), one of the key theoretical resources for research on capitalist states, vis-à-vis a more-than-human geographical perspective, while suggesting that the “human-centric” SRA could be modified to fit the MTHS theorization. More specifically, I first discuss the political and ecological significance of the SRA, as well as the anthropocentrism that remains unchallenged in this approach. Then I explore cases that have taken place in South Korea that reveal signs of the changing state form from a more-than-human perspective, while sketching out a more-than-human framework for the SRA, which reveals a new contact zone between state theory and more-than-human geography.

本文旨在将非人类的能动力量和情感力量做为一种社会力量, 探索理论化超人类国家的可能性。在构建国家形态和策略时, 我们通常认为社会力量仅仅来自人类。战略关系方法（SRA）是研究资本主义国家的重要理论来源。我试图采用超人类地理角度, 对SRA进行反思性辩论, 建议修订“以人为中心”的SRA, 去开展超人类国家的理论化。具体地, 我首先讨论了SRA的政治和生态意义及其有待挑战的人类中心主义。然后, 从超人类的角度, 我探讨了发生在韩国的案例。这些案例揭示了国家形态变化的迹象, 同时勾勒出了一个SRA超人类框架, 揭示了国家理论与超人类地理学之间的新交点。

Este artículo trata de explorar las posibilidades de teorizar el estado más-que-humano (MTHS), prestando atención al poder agentivo y afectivo de los no humanos como fuerzas sociales––cualidades que usualmente se cree son atribuibles solamente a los humanos––para construir la forma y estrategias del estado. Para esta tarea, intento contribuir en un debate autorreflexivo sobre el enfoque estratégico–relacional (SRA), uno de los recursos teóricos claves de investigación en los estados capitalistas, con una perspectiva geográfica más-que-humana, al tiempo que se sugiere que el SRA centrado en lo humano podría modificarse de modo que se ajuste a la teorización del MTHS. Más específicamente, de entrada, discuto la importancia política y ecológica del SRA, lo mismo que el antropocentrismo que se mantiene indisputado en este enfoque. Luego exploro casos ocurridos en Corea del Sur que revelan signos de la forma cambiante del estado desde una perspectiva más-que-humana,

Key Words:

• Bob Jessop
• more-than-human geography
• more-than-human state
• state theory
• strategic-relational approach

关键词：:

• Bob Jessop
• 超人类地理学
• 超人类国家
• 国家理论
• 战略关系方法。

Palabras clave::

• Bob Jessop
• enfoque estratégico–relacional
• estado más-que-humano
• geografía más-que-humana
• teoría del estado

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Do-Wan Ku, Sang-Jin Hahn, Woojoo Chang, Ji-Hyun Seo, Saerom Ahn, Myung Ae Choi, Soo Jin Kim, Soonyawl Park, Young Sin Jeong, Deok-Hwa Hong, Jihye Kim, and Junsoo Kim for their useful comments on earlier drafts. The author also sincerely thanks Editor Heejun Chang and the anonymous referees for their insightful critique and suggestions.

Notes

1 Newly launched journals such as Anthropocene (Elsevier) and The Anthropocene Review (Sage) demonstrate a change in recognition by social scientists about anthropocentrism.

Additional information

Funding

Research for this article has benefited from the support of the Korea SHE Foundation through Forum for Life·Liberty·Community and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF‐2017S1A3A2066514).

Notes on contributors

Jin-Tae Hwang

JIN-TAE HWANG is a Research Fellow at Seoul National University Asia Center, Seoul 08826, South Korea. E-mail: [email protected]. His work focuses on the political ecology of development in East Asia and East Africa.