In the February article, Agamben argued that anarchy “is first and foremost the radical disavowal not so much of the state or simply of administration, but rather of power’s claim to make the state and administration coincide in the government of men.”

"The Two Faces of Power" tracks this binary machine across the history of the West, from Aristotle to the present day, passing through Aquinas, Napoleon, and Carl Schmitt. In this way, it constitutes a compact introduction to his larger Homo Sacer series.