Publication
On the medicalisation of global politics: a conversation with Roberto Esposito
This article by Malte Reimann and Antonio Cerella explores how politics and medicine have become deeply intertwined, using the thought of Roberto Esposito to reimagine this relationship through the lens of an affirmative biopolitics.
- Author
- Malte Riemann, Antonio Cerella & Roberto Esposito
- Date
- 29 September 2025
- Links
- Read the full article here
Riemann and Cerella trace how immunitary logics have come to structure political life, defining boundaries of inclusion and exclusion that shape social cohesion and state power. They argue that the medicalisation of politics, visible in pandemic governance and responses to global crises, has intensified individualisation and desocialisation, while often producing thanatopolitical consequences under the guise of protecting life. Drawing on Esposito’s categories of immunitas and communitas, the authors propose rethinking this relationship toward a more relational and life-affirming politics grounded in openness, interdependence, and shared vulnerability.
The article extends Esposito’s framework into International Relations, contending that his critique of sovereignty and his emphasis on community as exposure rather than protection provide tools for re-envisioning global political life. It highlights implications for issues such as migration, digital governance, and environmental politics, while acknowledging that Esposito’s work remains limited in addressing coloniality and racialized violence. Ultimately, the authors call for a politics that transcends immunitary exclusion and embraces the productive potential of interdependence as the core of collective life.