Hegemony, Coercion and Teeth Gritting Harmony: A Commentary on Law, Power and Culture in Franco’s Spain

Co-authored with Ratna Kapur, this commentary engages the interrelationship of hegemony and coercion in legal regimes of the modern state. Against the backdrop of regulation of sexuality in fascist Spain, we posit a model of modern state power that draws upon the work of Gramsci, Althusser, and Foucault. It is argued that ideology is the velvet glove that encases the iron fist of coercion, and law always combines coercion and ideology by its very structure and operation. A bridge between critical race theory and queer theory is located in the concept of racing seen as the modern technology of power whereby domination is exercised and legitimated on grounds of professed biological, natural, and immutable deficiencies of the subordinated. Practices of subaltern resistance are identified to search locations and scope of spaces where agency of the subordinated can unfold