Peter Hallward

Beyond Salvage
Cail Schnitt wiote nost ol The Nonos of
the Earth towaid the end ol Woild Wai II.
He llanes the unpiecedented liutality ol that
conict on the collapse ol the aiiangenent
that had iegulated the conduct ol wailaie in
Euiope in the peiiod letween the end ol the
ieligious wais ol the seventeenth centuiy and
the onset ol Woild Wai I. Duiing this peiiod,
wais letween Euiopean states tended to olseive
iules that contained violence within ieasonalle
linits. He inplies that only the unlikely ienewal
ol a ioughly sinilai aiiangenent can oei any
chance, il not ol genuine peace, at least ol less
disastious loins ol wai.
What lollows will aigue that little ol sulstance
should le salvaged lion Schnitts pioloundly
ieactionaiy analysis leloie noving on to con-
sidei a nunlei ol alteinative paths out and away
lion a neo-Schnittean undeistanding ol oui
piesent situation.
I
The linited oi liacketed conduct ol wai in
Euiope duiing the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuiies enduied, accoiding to Schnitt, so
The South Atlantic Quarterly oq:z, Spiing zoo.
Copyiight _ zoo ly Duke Univeisity Piess.
238 Peter Hallward
long as thiee piincipal lactois held good. Fiist, the iules goveining con-
ict had to le cleai, pullic, and linding on all the ielevant paities and
enloiced ly those states adnitted thiough nutual iecognition into the
clique ol gieat poweis. Such iules could then opeiate noie oi less on the
nodel ol those that applied, duiing these sane yeais, to the conduct ol duels
letween aiistociats ol equal social standing.
1
Second, this clul ol doninant
insideis had to ienain segiegated in the stiictest possille teins lion out-
sideis oi nonnenleis, le they weak oi quasi states within Euiope oi, noie
inpoitant, teiiitoiies outside Euiope. This segiegation, nally, was itsell
to ienain giounded in nothing othei than the sinple fact that the Euio-
pean poweis had pioved alle to appiopiiate and thus doninate the teiiitoiy
ol non-Euiopeist the new woild ol the Aneiicas, and latei the colonial
donains ol Asia, Aliica, and Austialasia.
This thiid condition neans that the doninance ol Euiope ovei the iest
ol the woild is ustied exclusively ly the de lacto iesult ol donination
itsellit is essential loi Schnitts aigunent that theie le no deepei ciite-
iion ol legality than that ol the act ol successlul appiopiiation (q), which
loi this veiy ieason lecones eectively unustialle, il not incontestalle.
The lounding act that undeilies the nomos guies, like any such act in
Schnitts conception ol things, is soveieign, exceptional, extialegal. The
only incontestalle iight is one giounded exclusively on night, without iel-
eience to any noie lundanental notion ol ustice, laiiness, legitinacy, and
so on. So il Schnitts nomos is liteially giounded in the eaith, the land,
this is less lecause ol an innately telluiic oiientation than lecause land
as opposed to the uid instalility ol the seaguies heie as the nost lasic,
nost piinoidial olect ol appiopiiation as such (qqq, 8o8, z8).
The second condition stipulates that the exclusion ol outsideis oi non-
Euiopeans is not tangential lut cential to the aiiangenent. Its not only that
non-Euiope oeis that enpty space in which Euiopean iivaliies can salely
lieak, liontine to tine, into uniegulated luists ol conict that pit one set
ol piiates against anothei. Moie to the point, its only insolai as they con-
sidei thenselves inneasuially supeiioi to the sulhunans they iule that
oui waiiioi nolility lully inteinalize the code ol honoi that seives to civi-
lize conlat. The civilizing nomos is a glolal iathei than neiely Euiopean
aaii. It is as iuleis ol the world, loids ovei non-Euiope, that Euiopes poweis
tenpei theii own quaiiels. Staiting with the conquest ol its new Aneii-
can woild, nodein inpeiialisn allows loi the tienendous aination ol
Euiope loth as the centei ol the eaith and as an old continent (8;). Bound
Beyond Salvage 239
ly iules ol etiquette in disputes anong thenselves, Euiopean poweis weie
loi the sane ieason entitled to pieseive theii doninion ovei non-Euiope
thiough untianneled loice.
The ist condition piesunes paiity anong the gieat poweis in teins ol
nilitaiy stiength and technological developnent. It also assunes that wai
is a nechanisndesigned to pieseive oi coiiect, iathei thanchange, a stalle,
pieexisting lalance ol powei.
Schnitts nomos is a teiiitoiializedoidei. Gioundedinthe piinoidial appio-
piiation ol land, applied to the whole suilace ol the glole, ustied ly its
self-evident distinction letween inside and out, this noinative oidei ol the
eaith is olviously lased on a vaiiant ol what would lecone, in the nine-
teenth centuiy, the standaid counteiievolutionaiy thenethe piinacy ol
oideied place ovei anaichic space. Taken loi gianted ly leudal Euiope, this
piinacy lecane explicit in ieaction to the thieat ol ievolutionaiy denoc-
iacy, since, as ]acques Ranciie explains, the distinctive leatuie ol the nod-
ein denociatic age consists in iuining the veiy giound on which politi-
cal action night le teiiitoiialized and thus authoiized oi appioved.
2
The
Fiench and Haitian ievolutions dissociate political oidei lion inheiited
place and anticipate the pionise ol a dis-oiiented oi egalitaiian space.
Fion stait to nish, Schnitts look is essentially a ieaiguaid action
against this pionise. As such, it can no noie explain the past than it can
illuninate the piesent. It sheds little light on how Euiopes ist wai ol
industiialized slaughtei eneiged diiectly lionwithin the inpeiial congu-
iation, and since Schnitt ieluses to discuss lascisn oi Nazisn (oi even to
nention the nanes ol Mussolini, Fianco, oi Hitlei) it is still noie inade-
quate as an account ol Woild Wai II itsell. Foi Schnitt, the collapse ol
the nomos that allows loi these total oi unliacketed wais stens piinaiily
lion the iise ol an anliguous inteinediaiy state (i.e., Aneiica) letween
Euiope and non-Euiope, the decline ol that Euiopean powei (i.e., Biitain)
which had inposed oidei on the thieatening instalility ol the seas, and the
paitial willingness ol sone Euiopean poweis (e.g., Belgiun) to conten-
plate active ielations with theii colonies.
3
What diops out ol this analysis
is scaicely less than eveiything associated with nodeinization and its asso-
ciated tiends: the consolidation ol capitalisn, industiialization, technologi-
cal change, uilanization, denociatization, and so on.
Schnitts tiuncated account ol the histoiical past is conplenented ly his
240 Peter Hallward
distoited undeistanding ol piesent tiends. Its tiue that he identies a nun-
lei ol dieiences letweenthe oldoidei olseivedly Euiopes justi hostes and
the new aiiangenent that includes oui woild as a whole. The piesunption
ol ielative paiity oi synnetiy letween waiiing paitneis (zo) has indeed
leen ieplaced ly a lasting piesunption ol total dissynnetiy, exenplied
in the wais ol occupation waged against Palestine, Alghanistan, and Iiaq.
Wai has lost that exclusively pullic, detached status it ietained duiing the
eighteenth centuiy. The evaluation ol wais as ust oi unust, a consideiation
sidelined duiing the age ol the jus publicum Europaeum, doninates ideo-
logical stiuggle today as nuch as oi noie than it did when Schnitt ist
pullished his look (in o), nost olviously in the ongoing inpeiial eoit
to ciininalize its opponents as unust enenies (zz). A ust wai, in the
eyes ol the inpeiiun, will ly denition also always le one waged against
an innitely weakei opponent. By the sane token, those stiuggling loi us-
tice today have no choice lut to peiseveie in the lace ol this dissynnetiy,
and to accept its inplications. This nuch is olvious.
But Nomos is not a piophetic look. It anticipates a disoideied, iootless,
and centeiless woild, the woild ol a spaceless and theiely ungovein-
alle univeisalisn (z, ), a woild in which the secuie legacy ol landed
appiopiiation is sulneiged leneath the wateiy unceitainties ol the sea (oi
evapoiated in the still noie etheieal volatility ol the aii). The Euiocentiic
hieiaichy is supposed to have dissolved into a univeisal woild law lack-
ing distinctions (zz;), into the nothingness ol a univeisality lacking any
giounding in space oi on land (z;). This anticipation nay iesonate with
noie iecent evocations ol a deteiiitoiialized oi nonadic utopia. It nay tally
with accounts ol a uid enpiie without centei oi linit. Outside ol the woild
inagined ly Deleuze oi Negii, howevei, along with ceitain tendencies ol
postcolonial and postnodein theoiy, this pictuie leais little ielation to any
contenpoiaiy ieality.
Rathei than the utopic anaichy signaled ly the supposed collapse ol the
Euiocentiic nomos, todays geopolitical conguiation would le lettei de-
sciiledas a ioughanalganol the two oldei veisions that Schnitt desciiles,
the nodein and the nedieval. The nodein (eighteenth- and nineteenth-
centuiy) jus publicum Europaeum depended on the alsence ol any linits to
the violent donination ol non-Euiope, iepiesented as inexhaustille liee
space. Aconlination ol nainly Aneiican nilitaiy powei and the nanipu-
lation ol inteinational tiade and nance (the constiaints ol stiuctuial ad-
Beyond Salvage 241
ustnent, the nanipulationol delt, the inpact ol ist-woild sulsidies, etc.)
ensuies that such an alsence peisists to this day: expand the oldei tein
Europe to enliace the whole ol todays ist woild, and the logic ienains
nuch the sane. Il anything, conict anong nenleis ol the piivileged clul
has lecone evei noie civilized, evei noie dispassionate and iule lound,
while the iecent histoiy ol gieat powei inteiventions in stiuggles leyond
this liontiei (in Vietnan, Angola, Lileiia) denonstiates how things woik
in places wheie the lawol the ungle ienains the only lawaiound. Both the
old and the new veisions ol the woild oidei ensuie that inteininalle and
lutile discussions ol inteinational ustice oi guilt (zo, 6;) need nevei
noinally aiise, at least not with any seiious consequences.
Menleis ol oui clul aie held togethei, howevei, ly noie thanthe neiely
loinal aiiangenents that ensuie loth a pioceduial equality anong nen-
leis and deepening levels ol inequality letween nenleis and nonnen-
leis. Such nodein consideiations have leen luttiessed, since colonial
tines, ly successive caiicatuial veisions ol the noie content-diiven eoit
that Schnitt associates with the nomos ol nedieval Chiistendon, the eoit
to luttiess oui donain against the dialolical nonstei leyond its liontiei
(6o)heathen piinitives, Connunists, innigiants, insuigents, the
pooi. The ienaikally eoitless incoipoiation ol todays neonedieval wai
against teiioi within a laniliai nodein idion piovides the nost olvious
denonstiation ol the point. Oui contenpoiaiy nomos, in shoit, conlines
loth the loinal legality ol eighteenth-centuiy diplonacy and the noie sul-
stantial, noie denite oideis and oiientations ol the respublica Christiana.
And no less thanthese pievious oideis, todays polaiizing oidei is one lased
(in teins that lecone incieasingly explicit with eveiy passing yeai) on the
puie lact ol donination oi appiopiiation. Schnitt ieninds us that in its
oiiginal sense, nomos is piecisely the lull innediacy ol a legal powei not
nediated ly laws, it is a constitutive histoiical eventan act ol legitimacy,
wheiely the legality ol a neie law ist is nade neaninglul (;). Theie
ienains nothing noie piinitive heie than the lence, the wall, the loitica-
tionthis piinciple ienains as staik today as it did a centuiy ago.
II
In nany ways, then, the oidei Schnitt nouins is alive and well. It has
acconnodated iecent challengesdecolonization, the Cold Wai, glolaliza-
242 Peter Hallward
tionwith ease. It has conlined nodein pioceduie with a neonedieval
oiientation, to ensuie that the distinction letween appiopiiatoi and appio-
piiated is il anything stiongei than evei leloie.
4
Il Schnitts look oeis little stiategic puichase on oui cuiient situa-
tion, to iead it today is at least to invite consideiation ol seveial alteinative
stiategies. The ist and appaiently nost populai option would le diiectly to
intensily and ieevaluate the veiy tendency that Schnitt hinsell so deeply
dieads, the one supposedly leading us towaid a centeiless oi nonadic space.
The opeiative piinacy ol sea ovei land, then ol aii ovei sea, and now ol
(cylei)space ovei aii (qzq, zo) night point in this diiection. Its
a diiection exploited in sone iespects ly a postnodeinisn lased on the
piolileiation ol puie sinulation (Baudiillaid) oi heteiology (Lyotaid) oi
deteiiitoiialization (Deleuze). Deleuze and Guattaiis woik is piecisely an
eoit to dissolve Schnitts conunction, lased on the appiopiiation ol land,
wheiely oidei and oiientation coincide, wheiely law and oidei aie one
(8). The end is laudalle lut the neans aie opaque, though it diaws atten-
tion to the consequences ol capitalist glolalization, this appioach oeis
lewiesouices loi eithei inteiiupting these consequences oi challenging the
hieiaichical and olten heavily teiiitoiialized oiientation ol the woild that
peisists to this day.
It is no doult possille, in the second place, to inagine a progressive oi
inclusive kind ol neo-Schnittean alteinative, an alteinative that Schnitt
hinsell does little to advance.
5
Such an alteinative night take the loin,
today, ol a pluialist nultilateialisndesigned to linit U.S. hegenony and to
openupnewsites loi iadical denociacy. Il it is to standupas inclusive, how-
evei, any such nove would iequiie a veiy consideialle leap ol laith. It would
involve elinination ol what I listed, alove, as the second ol Schnitts condi-
tions: the denaication ol insideis and outsideis. Relations letween todays
gieat poweissay, letweenthe United States, the EuiopeanUnion, Russia,
China, ]apanaie indeed conducted on the assunption that all loieseealle
conicts anong then will le iesolved thiough econonic and diplonatic
neans. The leap is to assune that this denilitaiization ol conict night
now extend to the iest ol the woild, oi even to ielations with the donestic
populations (when they piove ieliactoiy) ol these sane poweis. The leap is
to assune that conicts letween these gieat poweis aie especially signi-
cant, conpaied with the lundanental ielations ol exploitation and doni-
nation that distinguish the iuleis ol these poweis lion those they exploit
loth at hone and alioad. The leap, in shoit, is to downplay the geopolitical
Beyond Salvage 243
piinacy ol class conict. Recent histoiy oeis little ieason to lelieve that
this conict is any noie liacketed than leloie, oi that the luithei devel-
opnent ol nultilateialisn night nake it sothe adniially nultilateial
ousting ol Haitis Aiistide in Feliuaiy zooq piovides especially giaphic
illustiation ol the point.
6
A thiid and noie pionising alteinative would le to adopt a deconstiuc-
tive appioach. A deconstiuctive ciitique night stiike at Schnitts oiiginaiy
gestuie, the gestuie ol appiopiiation, the inauguiation ol the proper, the
lediock ol piopiiety and piopeity (q6), ly positing instead (in line with
the nove taken loi instance ly Stieglei and Lacoue-Lalaithe, lut also in
a ceitain way ly iek and Lacan) a noie piinoidial inpiopiiety, lack, oi
dfaut. Schnitts whole enphasis ol nomos as dwelling place, as place nade
piesent to itsell as ones own, as home (;q;), ts conloitally within the
puiview ol Deiiidas well-known ciitique ol sinilai thenes in Heideggei.
What exactly such an appioach night contiilute to an oiganized political
pioceduie, howevei, ienains uncleai.
Hence the need loi anothei, still noie sultiactive alteinative, one
that night attack Schnitts cential distinction thiough the invention ol
neans to eiode the lence letween ist and thiid woild at eveiy point ol its
constiuctionneocolonialisn, tiade, investnent, innigiation, asylun,
hunanitaiian inteivention. A lully sultiactive appioach (as advanced ly
Badiou) would seek to elaloiate, step ly step, the consequences ol a univei-
salizalle piesciiptionindieient to the oideiing (oi state) ol the situation,
a piesciiptionitsell spaikedly the exposuie ol a liteially indistinguishable (oi
inconsistent) nultiplicity as the veiy leing ol that situation.
7
A noie dia-
lectical, noie nediated veision ol sultiaction night supplenent Badious
contiilution with those ol Maix, Foucault, and Ranciie, anong otheis, so
as to concentiate onthe tiansloinationol those ielational nechanisns that
sustain this oideiielations ol exploitation and donination, togethei with
the loins ol iepiesentation that seive to noinalize, stalilize, and peipetu-
ate then. Schnitt links nilitaiy iestiaint with an oidei lased on disciini-
nation and hieiaichy, the only vialle alteinative is to associate ustice with
newly eective neans ol egalitaiian indiscrimination, newly paitisan loins
ol piesciiptive univeisalisn.
Noninal ieleience to two laniliai exanples nay evoke at least the gist ol
this conclusion. Schnitts oidei conlines a node ol disciininationoi nea-
suienent, giounded in land, and a political denaication, giounded in con-
quest. But all ly itsell, the ievolution that ended in Haiti two hundied yeais
244 Peter Hallward
ago denonstiated the liailty ol even the nost inplacalle political denai-
cation, peihaps the (savagely iepiessed) inplications ol even this one event
night still suce to oveituin the logic ol such denaication today. And as
lai as the science ol neasuienent is conceined, the alstiaction achieved
via the tiansition lion a closed woild to what Alexandie Koyi called the
innite univeise piovides all we need to dissolve eveiy loin ol telluiic
pathos and heialds the indieience ol a tiuly dis-oiiented space as the only
peitinent space ol piesciiption.
Notes
Cail Schnitt, The Nonos of the Earth in the International Law of the ]us Pullicun Euio-
paeun, tians. G. L. Ulnen (NewYoik: Telos, zoo). Sulsequent citations aie given pai-
enthetically in the text.
z Thus dened, denociacy involves a leing-togethei without place oi lody, a leing-
togethei that is a leing-letween: letween seveial places and seveial identities, seveial
nodes ol localization and identication (]acques Ranciie, The Names of History: On the
Poetics of Knowledge, tians. Hassan Melehy [Minneapolis: Univeisity ol Minnesota Piess,
q|, q, and see ]acques Ranciie, The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellec-
tual Emancipation, tians. Kiistin Ross [Stanloid, CA: Stanloid Univeisity Piess, |,
6;). Foi Schnitt, ly contiast, the coie ol all hunan oidei [is| the nutual ielation ol
piotection and oledience (Nomos, 8).
The old Euiocentiic oidei legan to uniavel when oveiseas colonial teiiitoiy lecane
indistinguishalle lion state teiiitoiy (Schnitt, Nomos, , and see zz, zq).
q As Walleistein shows, the iate ol exploitation ol the peiipheiy ly the centei lecones
noie intense, not less, as it pioceeds lion the slave tiade thiough colonial adninistia-
tion to postcolonial tiade (Innanuel Walleistein, The Essential Wallerstein [New Yoik:
New Piess, zooo|, 6z6). The lantastical condition that Schnitt stipulates as neces-
saiy loi a ievival ol the old Euiocentiic oideia scenaiio in which nen on theii way
to the noon discovei a new and hitheito unknown planet that could le exploited lieely
and utilized eectively to ielieve theii stiuggles on eaith (Nomos, )is a condition
sulstantially net ly the contenpoiaiy ciicunstances ol inteinational pioduction.
See Schnitt, Nomos, . Schnitt is the ist to say that the oidei he iegiets is lost loievei,
his analysis is noie a ciy ol despeiation (anothei iealization that only a god can save
us?) than a call to ains.
6 See Petei Hallwaid, Open Zeio in Haiti, New Left Review, no. z; (zooq): zq;.
; See Alain Badiou, Ltre et lvnement (Paiis: Seuil, 88).