Bureaucracy in America: Reading Ryan's budget with Agamben

Christopher Trigg

doi:10.3138/cras.2014.012

Bureaucracy in America: Reading Ryan's budget with Agamben

Christopher Trigg^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Nanyang Technological University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The article analyses Paul Ryan's 2013 budget proposal in conjunction with Giorgio Agamben's The Kingdom and the Glory (2011). Agamben contends that early Christian attempts to differentiate between "the being of God and his activity" continue to structure politics today. Drawing on Agamben's reading of Thomas Aquinas, I demonstrate how the argument of Ryan's budget is not only predicated on fiscal responsibility and a moral objection to "big government" but also on a politico-theological conviction that bureaucracies of men and women should not intervene in matters best left to a free market guided by divine providence.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	213-237
Number of pages	25
Journal	Canadian Review of American Studies
Volume	45
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3138/cras.2014.012
Publication status	Published - Aug 2015
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Canadian Review of American Studies.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Cultural Studies
History
Literature and Literary Theory

Keywords

Agamben
Bureaucracy
Political theology
Ryan
The Presidency

Access to Document

10.3138/cras.2014.012

Cite this

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Bureaucracy in America: Reading Ryan's budget with Agamben

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Keywords

Access to Document

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