"The Vermin of the Street: The Politics of Violence and the Nomos of Automobility"

 
"The authors of "The Vermin of the Street: The Politics of Violence and the Nomos of Automobility" analyze how the dominance of automobiles has transformed the world into a space of exception. They argue that, since the rise of the automobile, road violence has become normalized, reducing humans to "bare life" who can be killed without consequence. Drawing on Carl Schmitt's concept of the "nomos," they argue that the road functions as a "bracketed space" where laws and ethics are suspended, similar to the "state of exception" found in concentration camps. The authors ultimately conclude that the automobile has not simply changed the landscape, but our very way of being-in-the-world, transforming the entire globe into a "global nomos" governed by the constant threat of automobility violence."
(NotebookLM summary)

Robert Braun & Richard Randell (2022) The vermin of the street: the politics of violence and the nomos of automobility, Mobilities, 17:1, 53-68

https://www.sciencedirect.com/org/science/article/pii/S1745010122007299#ks0010