Abstract
Reading the End-of-life Controversy through Political Lenses: Public Power and Intimacy
Highlights
In 2005, the whole world could follow live the highly emotional controversy over whether or not the American Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube should be removed
In the years to follow, both European and US politics would experience manifold similar cases of people suffering from incurable diseases or being limited in what they label as the capacity to lead a “life with dignity” launching hotly debated controversies dealing with the questions of who has authority over these decisions and how both autonomy and dignity should be understood in the current era of Western liberal democracies
Considering these political negotiations through discursive practices1 – as they become apparent in debates, legislation, strategy papers issued by institutions or civic associations, as well as through media coverage of end-of-life controversies – this article explains how intimate experience intervenes in this process
Summary
In 2005, the whole world could follow live the highly emotional controversy over whether or not the American Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube should be removed (as Quill [2005] analyzes). The cases mentioned above expose the fact that the societal debate on end-of-life issues is no longer a question exclusively of ethics; instead, the ethical values of dignity and autonomy have materialized in Western societies as a result of political negotiation of the particular social, historical, and cultural conditions in which people die Considering these political negotiations through discursive practices1 – as they become apparent in debates, legislation, strategy papers issued by institutions or civic associations, as well as through media coverage of end-of-life controversies – this article explains how intimate experience intervenes in this process. Current end-of-life controversies are discussed and performed both in terms of the cultural and the social contexts they stem from and in terms of how their demands for revision bring to the fore a changed notion of public power that operates with and through intimacy related to death and dying
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