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Authors: Antonio Negri, Professor Michael Hardt
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that involve the exercise ofphysical force on the part
ofthe imperial machine over its global territories. The enemies that
Empire opposes today may present more ofan ideological threat
than a military challenge, but nonetheless the power ofEmpire
exercised through force and all the deployments that guarantee its
effectiveness are already very advanced technologically and solidly
consolidated politically.30
The arsenal of legitimate force for imperial intervention is
indeed already vast, and should include not only military interven-
tion but also other forms such as moral intervention and juridical
intervention. In fact, the Empire’s powers of intervention might
be best understood as beginning not directly with its weapons of
lethal force but rather with its moral instruments. What we are
calling moral intervention is practiced today by a variety ofbodies,
including the news media and religious organizations, but the most
important may be some ofthe so-called non-governmental organi-
36
T H E P O L I T I C A L C O N S T I T U T I O N O F T H E P R E S E N T
zations (NGOs), which, precisely because they are not run directly
by governments, are assumed to act on the basis ofethical or moral
imperatives. The term refers to a wide variety of groups, but we
are referring here principally to the global, regional, and local organi-
zations that are dedicated to reliefwork and the protection ofhuman
rights, such as Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Me´decins sans
Frontières. Such humanitarian NGOs are in effect (even if this runs
counter to the intentions ofthe participants) some ofthe most
powerful pacific weapons of the new world order—the charitable
campaigns and the mendicant orders ofEmpire. These NGOs con-
duct ‘‘just wars’’ without arms, without violence, without borders.
Like the Dominicans in the late medieval period and the Jesuits at
the dawn ofmodernity, these groups strive to identify universal
needs and defend human rights. Through their language and their
action they first define the enemy as privation (in the hope of
preventing serious damage) and then recognize the enemy as sin.
It is hard not to be reminded here ofhow in Christian moral
theology evil is first posed as privation ofthe good and then sin is
defined as culpable negation ofthe good. Within this logical frame-
work it is not strange but rather all too natural that in their attempts
to respond to privation, these NGOs are led to denounce publicly
the sinners (or rather the Enemy in properly inquisitional terms);
nor is it strange that they leave to the ‘‘secular wing’’ the task of
actually addressing the problems. In this way, moral intervention
has become a frontline force of imperial intervention. In effect, this
intervention prefigures the state ofexception from below, and does
so without borders, armed with some of the most effective means
ofcommunication and oriented toward the symbolic production
ofthe Enemy. These NGOs are completely immersed in the bio-
political context ofthe constitution ofEmpire; they anticipate the
power ofits pacifying and productive intervention ofjustice. It
should thus come as no surprise that honest juridical theorists of
the old international school (such as Richard Falk) should be drawn
in by the fascination of these NGOs.31 The NGOs’ demonstration
ofthe new order as a peaceful biopolitical context seems to have
B I O P O L I T I C A L P R O D U C T I O N
37
blinded these theorists to the brutal effects that moral intervention
produces as a prefiguration ofworld order.32
Moral intervention often serves as the first act that prepares the
stage for military intervention. In such cases, military deployment is
presented as an internationally sanctioned police action. Today
military intervention is progressively less a product ofdecisions that
arise out ofthe old international order or even U.N. structures.
More often it is dictated
ofthe imperial machine over its global territories. The enemies that
Empire opposes today may present more ofan ideological threat
than a military challenge, but nonetheless the power ofEmpire
exercised through force and all the deployments that guarantee its
effectiveness are already very advanced technologically and solidly
consolidated politically.30
The arsenal of legitimate force for imperial intervention is
indeed already vast, and should include not only military interven-
tion but also other forms such as moral intervention and juridical
intervention. In fact, the Empire’s powers of intervention might
be best understood as beginning not directly with its weapons of
lethal force but rather with its moral instruments. What we are
calling moral intervention is practiced today by a variety ofbodies,
including the news media and religious organizations, but the most
important may be some ofthe so-called non-governmental organi-
36
T H E P O L I T I C A L C O N S T I T U T I O N O F T H E P R E S E N T
zations (NGOs), which, precisely because they are not run directly
by governments, are assumed to act on the basis ofethical or moral
imperatives. The term refers to a wide variety of groups, but we
are referring here principally to the global, regional, and local organi-
zations that are dedicated to reliefwork and the protection ofhuman
rights, such as Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Me´decins sans
Frontières. Such humanitarian NGOs are in effect (even if this runs
counter to the intentions ofthe participants) some ofthe most
powerful pacific weapons of the new world order—the charitable
campaigns and the mendicant orders ofEmpire. These NGOs con-
duct ‘‘just wars’’ without arms, without violence, without borders.
Like the Dominicans in the late medieval period and the Jesuits at
the dawn ofmodernity, these groups strive to identify universal
needs and defend human rights. Through their language and their
action they first define the enemy as privation (in the hope of
preventing serious damage) and then recognize the enemy as sin.
It is hard not to be reminded here ofhow in Christian moral
theology evil is first posed as privation ofthe good and then sin is
defined as culpable negation ofthe good. Within this logical frame-
work it is not strange but rather all too natural that in their attempts
to respond to privation, these NGOs are led to denounce publicly
the sinners (or rather the Enemy in properly inquisitional terms);
nor is it strange that they leave to the ‘‘secular wing’’ the task of
actually addressing the problems. In this way, moral intervention
has become a frontline force of imperial intervention. In effect, this
intervention prefigures the state ofexception from below, and does
so without borders, armed with some of the most effective means
ofcommunication and oriented toward the symbolic production
ofthe Enemy. These NGOs are completely immersed in the bio-
political context ofthe constitution ofEmpire; they anticipate the
power ofits pacifying and productive intervention ofjustice. It
should thus come as no surprise that honest juridical theorists of
the old international school (such as Richard Falk) should be drawn
in by the fascination of these NGOs.31 The NGOs’ demonstration
ofthe new order as a peaceful biopolitical context seems to have
B I O P O L I T I C A L P R O D U C T I O N
37
blinded these theorists to the brutal effects that moral intervention
produces as a prefiguration ofworld order.32
Moral intervention often serves as the first act that prepares the
stage for military intervention. In such cases, military deployment is
presented as an internationally sanctioned police action. Today
military intervention is progressively less a product ofdecisions that
arise out ofthe old international order or even U.N. structures.
More often it is dictated
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