From subject to project: crisis and the transformation of subjectivity in the armed forces

Historically, the army has been one of the main fabrics of modern subjectivity. The work of Michel Foucault, specifically, explored how the armed forces have been a central site in the production of such subjectivities via modes of discipline and biopower. Building on Byung-Chul Han’s examination of neoliberalism, we argue that the new subject of the army is no longer solely a disciplinary/biopolitical subject but increasingly a psychopolitical project. These projects are constituted through, and as an expression of, what Han defines as the achievement society. In the achievement society neoliberalism redefines subjectivity through an affirmation of limitless possibilities and freedoms articulated through market logics. Neoliberal projects, thus, do not acknowledge limit conditions, but only boundlessness to actualize the self. This article reveals how the logics of the achievement society have gained entrance into exceptional military spaces, thereby transforming military subjects into achievement projects.