Necropolitical rationality in state judicial discourse: an analysis of the Guadalupe Case

Abstract

This article analyzes the Guadalupe Case through the lenses of biopolitics and necropolitics, examining how lethal state violence and its subsequent judicial interpretation are articulated in the production of a decision-making rationality that governs death. Adopting a qualitative approach grounded in critical discourse analysis, the study focuses on the ruling of the Superior Military Court, identifying discursive and dogmatic mechanisms that contribute to the institutional normalization of lethality. It argues that the justice system not only adjudicates state violence but also actively participates in its symbolic stabilization, transforming deaths into legally absorbable events. The study demonstrates the existence of a necropolitical rationality within judicial discourse, operating through the linguistic neutralization of violence, the centrality of the state narrative, and the flexibilization of criminal law dogmatic categories.