Necropolitics, state of acceptance and precarious life: accounting for austerity in English local government 2010–2024

Abstract

Purpose Austerity policies have arguably created a politics of living death that is symptomatic of necropolitics, but for normalised everyday life. This involves moving beyond the state of exception of crisis, where groups are subject to immediate violence that is often more visible, to a slow violence that is gradual and less visible, dispersed across time and space, and attritional, so may not even be viewed as violence at all. The slow violence in turn leads to slow death and precarious life that involves a state of acceptance among those affected and citizens in general. Through theorisation of necropolitics as a state of acceptance, the purpose of this article is to consider how life chances were affected through the role of accounting, auditing and accountability arrangements. Design/methodology/approach To do so, the article looks over more than a decade of austerity policies from the Conservative government on local authorities in England, following the 2007/08 financial crisis from 2010 to 2024. It provides a more top-down perspective of austerity to capture policy and oversight rather than the lived experiences of austerity by the grassroots. Nevertheless, to ameliorate any shortcomings, the article has leveraged existing bottom-up counter-account studies. Findings The article shows that from the slow burn of austerity cuts, through the slow violence of accounting and slow death to performance, there is a state of acceptance for precarious life among citizens towards fellow groups. The lack of adequate audit and accountability arrangements to report on the financial and performance issues, and a reduced media presence, has exacerbated the acceptability of precarious life. Originality/value This is the first article to consider the accounting impacts and implications inherent in a necropolitics, state of acceptance and precarious everyday life relating to local government.