Governmentality critical encounters

201 Pages·2012·1.739 MB·English

by  William Walters

Governmentality
CRITICAL ENCOUNTERS
CRITICAL ISSUES IN GLOBAL POLITICS
WILLIAM WALTERS
Governmentality
First developed by Michel Foucault more than 30 years ago, ‘govern-
mentality’ has become an essential set of tools for many researchers in
thesocialandpoliticalsciencestoday.Whatisgovernmentality?Howdoes
this perspective challenge the way we understand political power and
its contestation? This book offers advanced undergraduate and gradu-
atestudentsbothahighlyaccessibleguideandanoriginalcontribution
to debates about power and governmentality.
The book aims to serve four main functions:
(cid:1) to situate governmentality as an intellectual development within Fou-
cault’s thinkingaboutthemicrophysicsofpowerandhisgenealogical
methods;
(cid:1) to reveal how research in governmentality has changed as the idea
encountersnewacademicfields,politicalcontextsandregionalsettings;
(cid:1) toexamineoneofthemorerecentencountersbetweengovernmentality
and the social sciences – its interaction with international relations
and global politics;
(cid:1) toofferresearcherssomemethodologicalsuggestionsforundertaking
studies in governmentality, stressing that its critical edge becomes
bluntedifitisdetachedfromhistorical/genealogicalmodesofinquiry.
Thisbookadvancesasetofconceptualandmethodologicalobservations
intended to keep research in governmentality a living, critical thought
project. Above all, it argues that the challenge of understanding the
world calls for the addition of new thinking equipment to the govern-
mentality toolbox.Governmentality:CriticalEncounterswillproveuseful
forstudentsofsocialandpoliticaltheory,internationalrelations,political
sociology, anthropology and geography.
WilliamWaltersisProfessorofPoliticalScienceandSociologyatCarleton
University, Ottawa, Canada.
Critical Issues in Global Politics
This series engages with the most significant issues in contemporary global
politics.Eachtextiswrittenbyaleadingscholarandprovidesashort,accessible
andstimulating overviewof the issue for advanced undergraduatesandgradu-
atestudentsofinternationalrelationsandglobalpolitics.Aswellasprovidinga
surveyofthefield,thebooksalsocontainoriginalandgroundbreakingthinking
whichwilldriveforwarddebatesonthesekeyissues.
1. GlobalEthics
Anarchy,freedomandInternationalRelations
MervynFrost
2. InternationalStatebuilding
Theriseofpost-liberal governance
DavidChandler
3. Governmentality
Critical encounters
William Walters
Governmentality
Critical encounters
William Walters
Firstpublished2012
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2012WilliamWalters
TherightofWilliamWalterstobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhas
beenassertedbyhiminaccordancewiththeCopyright,Designsand
PatentAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproduced
orutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,
nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,
orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissionin
writingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor
registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationand
explanationwithoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Walters,William,1964–
Governmentality:criticalencounters/WilliamWalters.
p.cm.–(Criticalissuesinglobalpolitics)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Politicalscience–Philosophy.2.State,The.3.Foucault,Michel,
1926–1984–Politicalandsocialviews.I.Title.
JA71.W2472012
320.01–dc23
2011048393
ISBN:978-0-415-77953-1(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-77954-8(pbk)
ISBN:978-0-203-11693-7(ebk)
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
For Eugene, in memory.

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
The advance of governmentality 1
Critical encounters 4
Four chapters 6
1 Foucault, power and governmentality 9
Introduction 9
What is governmentality? 10
Beyond the microphysics of power? 13
From theory of the state to genealogy of the state 16
History of the art of government 19
Five propositions on Foucault and governmentality 38
2 Governmentality 3.4.7 44
Introduction 44
Governmentality ‘after’ Foucault 46
Governmentality and the political sciences 54
Some problems in governmentality 68
3 Foucault effect redux? Some notes on international
governmentality studies 82
Constellation 82
A few preliminary observations 85
Problems and debates in international governmentality
studies 92
viii Contents
4 Reconnecting governmentality and genealogy: questions
of style 110
Introduction 110
Genealogy and governmentality 112
Pluralizing genealogy 114
Practising genealogy: three styles 115
Lines of descent: the family tree of power? (GI) 117
Counter-memory and re-serialization (GII) 124
The retrieval of forgotten struggles and subjugated
knowledges (GIII) 132
5 Conclusion: encountering governmentality 141
Governmentality as a new cartography of power 141
From mapping to encountering 143
Governmentality and politics 147
Notes 151
Bibliography 165
Index 182
Acknowledgements
Writing may often feel like a very individual endeavour but it never
happenswithoutthesupportofothers.FortheirlovingcareIamgrateful
to Christina and Zoë. Thinking is definitely a collective activity. I am
indebted to the following for discussions and exchanges that inspired,
shaped or sharpened many of the ideas I have, sometimes clumsily,
expressed in the following pages: Katja Franco Aas, Thomas Abrams,
Rob Aitken, Ayse Sule Akinturk, Christopher Alderson, Todd Alway,
Seantel Anaïs, Rutvica Andrijasevic, Huub van Baar, Serif Bahcecik,
Andrew Barry, Jacqueline Best, Bill Biebuyck, Janine Brodie, Sonja
Buckel, Howie Chodos, Bruce Curtis, Anne-Marie D’Aoust, Mitchell
Dean,ChristinaGabriel,MariekedeGoede,JohnGrundy,HansKrause
Hansen, Matthew Hayes, Jennifer Henderson, Paul Henman, Barry
Hindess, Otto, Holman, Jana Hönke, Alison Howell, Hendrik Huelss,
AlanHunt,SuzanIlcan,JonathanInda,EnginIsin,Hans-Martin Jaeger,
Julien Jeandesboz, Fuyuki Kurasawa, Wendy Larner, Anna Leander,
Rianne Mahon, John Manwaring, Sarah Martin, Jennifer Matsunaga,
JudyMeltzer,BenMuller,MathewNelson,CarlosNovas,Peter Nyers,
Pat O’Malley, Marion von Osten, Matthew Palmer, Matt Paterson,
JustinPaulson,DanPreece,KurtRafuse,CristinaRojas,NikolasRose,
Daryl Ross, Chris Rumford, Magnus Ryner, Mark Salter, Nisha Shah,
Martina Tazzioli, the students of 4303/5303, Grahame Thompson,
MarianaValverde,AshaVaradharajan,KasparVilladsen,WandaVrasti,
Jason Weidner, Lorna Weir, Melanie White, Gary Wickham, and Tom
Wolfe. I thank Craig Fowlie and Nicola Parkin for asking me to write
a book that took a bit longer to finish than probably they or I ima-
gined, and for being supportive (and patient) editors in the process!
Takingresponsibility is,inthis case,anindividualact: Iamanswerable
for whatever weaknesses remain.