How A Zombie Outbreak Affects The State

Hypothetically, a state will exist at nearly any given time. This state comes with a certain set of responsibilities in order to function properly. In Seeing Like A State, James Scott asserts that the most important political motives driving a state are “appropriation, control, and manipulation” (77). Should a state be unable to gauge its own resources and social organization it would be running inefficiently.

In The Walking Dead, a zombie outbreak has ravaged America, deposing any sense of centralized government or power and leaving small factions to form amongst themselves. In that, a figure known as the Governor emerges and assumes state power over a group of citizens in a town called Woodbury. He pledges to rule benevolently over his own citizens, but does not follow through in his actions. His sole command over his subjects leads to a crude, inept ruling over them as he simply utilizes them as pawns at his disposal. Focused more on control and power rather than operating and maintaining a functioning state, the Governor eventually slaughters his entire town because they will not obey his orders to mercilessly kill innocent people.

The Governor’s attempt at uniformity was driven by his power-hungry nature, and when he operated as the state, he made no attempt at legibility or typifications which are “indispensable to statecraft” (77). In the post-apocalyptic world, Scott would argue that the Governor made no attempt to run a functioning state as he did not understand the inner complexities of the society he governed. Neglecting these principles of how to run a state will inevitably lead to its downfall. States must learn to function based on what they consist of, even in a world crawling with zombies.