The Century of the Camp

The twentieth century has been described as the century of the camp. This chapter considers the implications of this thought seriously in relation to the various forms of enclosure enacted through governmental education, suggesting that this is essential to educational ontology. An account of Agamben’s political ontology revisits the status of the camp as ‘the secret matrix and nomos of our time’ giving the camp a central role in the global political order. Consideration is given also to the Foucauldian perspective whereby the political comes to be understood as much more than ‘the juridical structure of society alone’, so that classical political theory does not get at ‘the concrete systems’. Inescapable education is suggested as a key mechanism of the political order of modernity. The political significance of education is rethought in terms of sovereignty and exception, vital features of modern polities that illuminate invasive, intimate and ubiquitous governmental functions and features of education. Spaces of exception, inclusion and exclusion are rethought from this perspective. Rationality and legitimacy are set against ubiquitous government, leading to consideration of questions of modes of life including the law and childhood.