Jeremy Corbyn and the war machine: Assemblage and affect in the 2015 UK Labour Party Leadership Contest

Sam Page

Environment and Planning C, 2021, vol. 39, issue 7, 1319-1337

Abstract: In September 2015, the once obscure left-wing MP for Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn, became the UK Labour Party’s leader following the party’s defeat at the 8 May 2015 General Election. Corbyn came from the position of outsider, going from barely getting a place on the leadership ballot in the first place, to winning an outright majority. In this paper, I argue that Corbyn’s campaign reveals how elections and electoral campaigns are affective events, and highlights an issue with much existing electoral geography literature: elections are seldom written about as social, affective experiences. Through interviews and an ethnographic approach to Facebook, I examine the experiences within the party and on social media during the Labour leadership campaign. I argue that we might understand his campaign’s success better through the Deleuzo-Guattarian concept of the war machine. I conclude by considering the implications and questions that this theory provides for the future of his leadership, as well as the political geography of the state.

Keywords: Assemblage; affect; the war machine; Jeremy Corbyn; elections (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirc:v:39:y:2021:i:7:p:1319-1337

DOI: 10.1177/2399654419841385

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