Book Review: Jonathan Joseph, The Social in the Global: Social Theory, Governmentality and Global Politics (original) (raw)
Related papers
FOUCAULT'S ANALYSES OF NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY. PAST INVESTIGATIONS AND PRESENT APPLICATIONS
Etica e Politica, 2021
This essay seeks to elucidate if and to what extent Foucault's analyses of governmentality and neoliberalism as a form of governmentality in his 1978-1979 Collège de France lecture series can justifiably be used to come to a critical understanding of present-day neoliberalism(s). This has been a hotly debated issue among Foucault scholars based on what they consider to be ambiguities related to the normative status as well as the methodology of these lectures. In an attempt to contribute to this debate and to settle some of these concerns, I start by explicating how neolib-eralism has variously been interpreted and specify what I understand "neoliberalism" to mean. Foucault's notion of "governmentality" and his analyses of the mid-20 th C versions of German and American neoliberal governmentalities presented in these lectures are contextualized in terms of his general thinking in the late 70s and early 80s specifically his insistence on the critical attitude as virtue and his methodological specifications of philosophical-historical research. I contend that although Foucault's neoliberal governmentality lectures might be value-neutral, meth-odologically they remain a strategics of power/knowledge configurations imbued with the "critical attitude" that asserts the right not to be governed like that. It is therefore both justifiable and instructive to critically engage contemporary neoliberalisms through the lens of governmentality.
Governance, Civil Society, Governmentality. The ‘Foucauldian Moment’ in the
After two decades of flourishing theoretical and empirical research, the “twin concept” of governance and global civil society both appear to be in need of reassessment. Authority, epistemic validity, and “good practices” are viewed as the building blocks of governance, while global civil society can either be seen as a constitutive part or as a counter hegemonic actor in an expanding neoliberal ‘order’. This paper mainly aims to address the concept of governmentality, which introduces a critical attitude towards the semantics and pragmatics of governance. In this context, the deconstruction of the mainstream account of globalization allows us to focus on the process of de- legitimization of the post-second world war “Keynesian consensus” both at domestic and international level. Secondly, our analysis revisits the issues of ‘power’ and ‘politics’ which reshape our understanding of global governance and civil society dynamics, thus shedding new light on the question of political legitimacy. Keywords: governance, governmentality, neoliberalism, civil society, accountability, democracy.
2014
After two decades of flourishing theoretical and empirical research, the “twin concept” of governance and global civil society both appear to be in need of reassessment. Authority, epistemic validity, and “good practices” are viewed as the building blocks of governance, while global civil society can either be seen as a constitutive part or as a counter hegemonic actor in an expanding neoliberal ‘order’. This paper mainly aims to address the concept of governmentality, which introduces a critical attitude towards the semantics and pragmatics of governance. In this context, the deconstruction of the mainstream account of globalization allows us to focus on the process of de- legitimization of the post-second world war “Keynesian consensus” both at domestic and international level. Secondly, our analysis revisits the issues of ‘power’ and ‘politics’ which reshape our understanding of global governance and civil society dynamics, thus shedding new light on the question of political leg...
International Review of Social Research Neoliberalism: a Foucauldian Perspective
The contemporary investigations on power, politics, government and knowledge are profoundly influenced by Foucault's work. Governmentality, as a specific way of seeing the connections between the formation of subjectivities and population politics, has been used extensively in anthropology as neoliberal governmentalities have been spreading after the 1990s all over the world. A return to Foucault can help to clarify some overtly ideological uses of 'neoliberalism' in nowadays social sciences.
Neoliberalism: A Foucauldian Perspective
International Review of Social Research, 2011
The contemporary investigations on power, politics, government and knowledge are profoundly influenced by Foucault's work. Governmentality, as a specific way of seeing the connections between the formation of subjectivities and population politics, has been used extensively in anthropology as neoliberal governmentalities have been spreading after the 1990s all over the world. A return to Foucault can help to clarify some overtly ideological uses of 'neoliberalism' in nowadays social sciences.
2009
Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality defines a complex of heterogeneous practices directed at the conduct of collective bodies and individuals, including their selfconduct. It has resonated strongly in the social sciences, proving very powerful in the analysis of neoliberal forms of government. Although research on governmentality has been carried out since the 1990s,1 Foucault’s lecture series Sécurité, territoire, population and Naissance de la biopolitique held at the Collège de France in 1977/78 and 1978/79, in which he developed his concept and genealogy of governmentality, have only recently been published in their entirety. The strong German interest in Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality is not least marked by the simultaneous publication of the lectures in French and in German translation in 2004 (the English translation appeared in print 2007/20082). With only archival documents and tape recordings to refer to, Thomas Lemke laid the ground for the German r...
The gentle way in governing: Foucault and the question of neoliberalism
Philosophy and Social Criticism , 2023
This essay challenges some of the recent scholarship which claims that Michel Foucault was more sympathetic to neoliberalism than is typically acknowledged. Accordingly, it considers the possible motivations for Foucault's 1978-1979 lecture course, The Birth of Biopolitics; the relationship between liberalism and the various forms of power identified by Foucault; and, finally, claims that Foucault's account of the 'care of the self' was itself informed by the neoliberal theory of human capital. It finds that Foucault regarded neoliberalism as coercive social arrangement on par with the other forms of power/ knowledge targeted by his work. And it concludes with some reflections on how Foucault's account of the 'aesthetics of existence' might facilitate resistance to neoliberalism.