Outsourcing Power or the Mediators of 'Empty Space'

Abstract

This article analyzes the social processes which unfold in what we identify as “empty space”, i.e., space not being penetrated by state power and representing merely a geographical territory (or the space literally in the Cartesian sense, stripped of its social dimension). During a series of  expeditions into such “empty spaces” (2018–2022), we discovered that a special “local order” is emerging in this power vacuum that exists alongside the “global projects” that only formally involve these territories. We metaphorize the “emptiness” itself as a blanket under which the emerging “local order” becomes invisible and evasive. The large state corporations which are present in this space with the declarative purpose of domesticating it, or “bringing it to  life”, do not truly overlap with the “local order”. The corporate settlements are situated too far apart, and their infrastructure is inaccessible by the locals. For the different levels of power (i.e., district, province, and state), the corporations, and the local world to interconnect, an effective mediator is needed that could interact with the “emptiness” (rather than merely represent the state power), and be able to mobilize power. We describe one such possible mediator, discovered during fieldwork. It seems to be underpinning a local order that is able to coexist with the state power while remaining “invisible” and not challenging the former.