“The State” Is a Story We Tell Ourselves

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From the Archives: An anthropologist explains Peru's recent upheavals and shows how nation-states are “ideological artifacts” that attribute morality to the amoral goings on of the government.

When the far-left candidate Pedro Castillo won the presidential election in Peru this June, he beat out right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori with a narrow margin of around 44,000 votes.

This July 28—the day Castillo is set to be sworn into office—marks the 200th anniversary of Peru’s independence from Spanish rule. But after two centuries as an independent state, my home country seems to still have much to learn about the democratic principles of a republic. During this time, I heard some constitutional experts in the popular media conclude that Vizcarra’s removal was legal because it was technically based on the Constitution: The impeachment motion was supported by 105 of 130 lawmakers, more than the 87 votes required for removal. But what is legal is not necessarily right—especially in the face of a pandemic that’s putting unprecedented pressure on the political system.

Furthermore, many Peruvians believed that opposition lawmakers were planning to use impeachment to clinch executive power and then exploit the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to postpone the next presidential election—originally scheduled for April 2021—thus remaining longer in office.

The state, with its supposed commitment to neutrality, democracy, and law, is not what it appears to be. Sociologist Philip Abrams has described the state as an “ideological artifact,” or a construction that attributes morality to the amoral “practice[s] of government.” I believe the Peruvian state is a good example of this.

 

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