Between Rules and Lives: Hyperpoliticisation and Desubjectification in the Dutch Asylum Discourse
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2025-07-24
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en
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This master thesis examines how the Dutch asylum discourse shapes and denies political subjectivity. Drawing on Agamben, Butler, and Arendt, I argue that asylum seekers are simultaneously hyperpoliticised as a political “hot topic” and depoliticized by being excluded from the political space. Agamben explains this state of exception by arguing that asylum seekers are reduced to bare life. Butler then adds the notion of precarity to explain why asylum seekers are vulnerable to exclusion. Finally, Arendt shows how civil servants and asylum seekers are denied subjectivity, which leads to bureaucratic detachment and inhumane policies. This thesis calls for a rethinking of the Dutch asylum discourse in which political subjectivity and ethical responsibility are restored.
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Faculteit der Filosofie, Theologie en Religiewetenschappen