The Role of Law in Subjectivation: A Foucauldian analysis of the contemporary scene of torture in Iraq (2003-2006)

This thesis considers the incidence of torture perpetrated by US military personnel, against Iraqi prisoners, between 2003 and 2006 in Iraq. It investigates the operations of law and power that are evident in this scene of contemporary torture at the hands of a liberal, western, democratic state, which otherwise adheres to IHL and domestic laws against torture. This thesis investigates the ways in which law (as a top-down order), in conjunction with a range of operations of disciplinary and biopower, is implicated in the contemporary scene of torture through the process of subjectivation.