The permanent state of exception in the southern periphery of Europe

The permanent crisis in the southern periphery of Europe has been deep socially, politically and economically. In order to contain it the sovereign power has shown all its majesty. The state of exception has been the mechanism deployed to introduce the political decision within the legal framework. Departing from Agamben's understanding of this mechanism of power, the paper directs its attention to several dimensions in Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. That is, the financial crisis, the corporate impunity and the migrants death have been handled to silence the potentia to disrupt the ongoing capitalist and colonial regime of power. Actually, the state of exception has secured the current status quo, but also has intensified the ongoing regime of power. This dispositive is always accompanied by a legitimising discourse which essentialises and otherises these countries. After observing how this mechanism has operated in Southern Europe, the paper turns on discussing how to abandon this regime of power.