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ABSTRACT
An often heard phrase these days is “There is something about this chaotic 21st century of ours ...”. This “something”, it is argued here, lies at the heart of a new form of life which has become predominant in recent decades in globalizing culture: the life of aspiring, radicalizing sovereigns. This “something”, then, could the called the end of Law. In an age of aspiring and radicalizing sovereigns the Law, indeed law in all its forms and shapes, has become not just an irrelevance, but a nuisance and embarrassment as well. One of the manifestations of this irreverent sovereign attitude is the growing inability to accept waste, that is, an inability to live with all that generates waste (i.e. Law), and an inability to live with all that is waste. Waste, i.e. the accumulation of spent potential, is not what the aspiring, radicalizing sovereign wants. The sovereign's desires are all about conserving all potential. Although this new form of life has become manifest only very recently, it had been predicted by the novelist Don DeLillo in his novels Mao II and Underworld. The themes and images in both these novels are the focus of this contribution.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Dr Mark Featherstone for the many discussions he has had with him on the topic of this and related contributions. Many thanks also to Professor Anne Wagner for her encouragement.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Ronnie Lippens is Professor of Criminology at Keele University (UK). His work is situated within the broader “Humanities & Law” field and has been published in a wide variety of venues. Currently his research interests tend to focus on forms of life suggested in or announced by what could be called “prophetic art”.