ABSTRACT
The concept of triage is usually deployed in the context of an emergency. In its most general usage, it is an exceptional mechanism that neutralizes, manages and controls emergencies. To this end, the triage has a demonstrated medical application in wars, disasters and other calamities. It determines which injured person gets treated first, if at all. It also has successful human and ecological governmental applications in distributing health facilities, ranking endangered species, and redistributing scarce resources. Ultimately, it maximizes the resources available to a population and it creates (a semblance of) order where before there was likely only chaos. Although some will inevitably be left to die, the triage is seen as a necessary evil that promises that more lives will ultimately be saved and survive. In this way the triage is a quintessential biopolitical mechanism.
