ABSTRACT
Throughout the pandemic, the state placed the responsibility for policy failure on society: the doctors, the young, the unvaccinated. This outlines a paradox: the state exercises intense and expansive power upon society, but accepts no responsibility for it. All power resides with the state, and all responsibility with society. The emerging state is irresponsible: it denies any responsibility towards society, even for the effects of its actions. Accordingly, society can make no claims to the state: the state seeks to be secluded from social pressures and demands. This attribution of power and responsibility is particular to neoliberalism. While individualised responsibility ensuing from free choice is a staple of classical liberalism; now choice does not stem from any inherent creative faculty of the individual. For neoliberalism, choice is reactive and passive — but the ensuing responsibility remains. The configuration of power/responsibility describes state-society relations, but also political subjectivities. In classic liberalism, individuals are responsible because they are creative, powerful. In neoliberalism, individuals are powerless and dependent: dependent on, and responsibilised by, a state that has no responsibility towards them.
