Fear Responses: Intersubjectivity, and the Hollow State

Fear responses increasingly have driven both citizens and governments to make personalized “buy” or “sell” decisions in the context of the border for political and economic ends. These buy or sell decisions often serve as a “balm” to demonstrate government is taking action within prevailing political narratives. More explicitly, shifting narratives about what should be feared allow individuals, states, and economic actors to repackage “fears” to enable the sale and resale of responses to them. These consumption choices reinforce buy or sell decisions as reactions to fear rather than more traditional service provision. Sales imply market driven economic exchanges. In government, they represent the movement away from traditional service delivery practices to privatized or contracted goods and services which often have less oversight, possibly exacerbating issues of deinstitutionalization.