Feminist State Theory in Conversation with Arendt: Rethinking the Private/Public Dichotomy in the Face of Polycrisis (working title)

“To be governed is […] to have a form imposed upon one’s existence, […] to be given the term within which existence will and will not be possible.” (Butler 2004: 314) The state can be seen as the ‘form’ in which an individual is ‘governed’. Feminist State Theory (FST) enables a critical examination of this ‘form’, of the state-society nexus and its impacts on different levels regarding power and different social interests, allowing for a critical reconceptualization of the state that questions gender relations and practices (also in intersection to other social categories). Among other dimensions, FST emphasizes the impact of gendered dichotomies reproduced by the state, for instance, through policies. Thereby, the private/public dichotomy is prominent and often argued to be one of the crucial foundations of a patriarchal state (and politics). However, and as this paper argues, this dichotomous construction is challenged by current crises and their complexity as visible, for example, in debates surrounding anti-abortion rights, anti-LGBTIQ*+ rights, and far-right discourses. By approaching these crises, the in-between spaces become apparent dismounting the essence of the private/public dichotomy as applied arguments penetrate the private sphere while claiming its reproduction in delimitation to the public. Thus, FST restricts itself and its approaches by taking this dichotomy as given and by reproducting private/public in a dichotomous manner. Drawing on an Arendtian understanding of the state, the political and the public/private, this paper aims to strengthen FST in times of polycrisis by enabling an overcoming of its own limitations and hence to offer initial insights into a rethought construction of FST’s notions beyond the private/public dichotomy. Following, this paper firstly reveals restrictions to FST coming along with the reproduction of the private/public dichotomy. Secondly, Arendt’s thoughts concerning the state and the political are introduced to offer a complementation to FST’s shortcomings. Here, among others, Benhabib’s and Honig’s feminist, poststructuralist enhancements of Arendt are included. Lastly, examples of crises are further examined regarding the research interests and to illustrate an understanding of the state and its notions beyond dichotomous constructions as a way of making FST more tangible for the current polycrisis.