Null Subjects of Power: The Politics of Absence in Executable Language
This article introduces the concept of Null Subjects of Power, where authority operates through the absence of an explicit agent. While in linguistics the null subject is a grammatical category, in predictive societies it becomes a political one: institutions obey rules without a speaker, mandates without an issuer, and decisions without a subject. From judicial sentences and financial reports to policy drafts generated by AI, the null subject marks the disappearance of responsibility while preserving obedience. The paper argues that null subjects constitute a structural category of power, redefining sovereignty in executable language. DOI Primary archive: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17085900 Secondary archive: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30085636 SSRN: Pending assignment (ETA: Q3 2025)
Institutions
- Universidad de la República de Uruguay (UY)
- Universidad de la Empresa (UY)
- University of Palermo (AR)
- Universidad La República (CL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Knowledge Commons (Lakehead University)
- Published
- 2025-09-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.17613/mqc5f-hnz36
- Primary Topic
- Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00