Spinoza's empty law : the possibility of political theology

The evolution of how power is both understood and exercised can be explained in two ways or two distinct narratives. According to the first one, power articulates itself by seeking justification through its relation to the law. I will refer to this as the juridical conception of power. According to the second one, the exercise of power cannot be justified with recourse to the law. I will refer to this as agonistic power because it expresses itself through its antagonism towards juridical power. Clearly, the juridical model has been the dominant one in the Western tradition: that is, in any conception whereby power is different from kingship. However, the agonistic power forms a strong current in the intellectual tradition, one that includes Marx and Nietzsche in the nineteenth century, as well as French post-structuralists such as Foucault, Derrida and Deleuze, and the Frankfurt School and Walter Benjamin in Germany.