ABSTRACT
Failure is a fleeting concept. As soon as a failure is identified, attention focuses more on the subject and object of failure rather than the performative consequences of the concept of failure itself. This chapter attempts to zoom in on the subject, and via distinct notions of contingency, identifies three distinct notions of failure: as an empirical irregularity, as a misunderstanding, and as a mode of organization. The chapter highlights that each of these notions gives rise to specific discourses. The politics of failure is developed via the example of “market failure.” Here, the chapter shows that both economics and economic policy debates instantly transform critiques targeted as misunderstanding or mode of organization into a failure as empirical irregularity where subsequent critiques are then to be proven using empirical data. Thereby, critiques on the mode of organization lose their bite and are being silenced in subsequent debates.
