Conditions of emergence and their (bio)political effects: political rationalities, governmental programmes and technologies of power in the landmine case

Abstract

The landmine case has usually been understood as an issue in which domestic politics did not play an important role. Known for unprecedented worldwide involvement of NGOs, the story, with a complete ban of antipersonnel landmines in the end, was traditionally thought to be the result of successful mobilization of global civil society. While not denying the input of global civil society, I suggest that a crucial moment enabling it to emerge and gain momentum was brought about by domestic transformations in Canada. While dealing with the question of what political rationality lies behind the emergence of international norms, I use concepts from critically oriented new public management literature and Foucauldean analytics of government. Also, two methodological moves are advanced. First, the need to refocus from macro-juridical diagnosis to micro-level analysis of government in Canada. Second, I argue that one cannot fully understand these micro-level practices and discourses without the examination of two crucial domestic structural conditions and their synergetic effect allowing the landmine case to emerge: (i) transformations of Canada's non-profit and voluntary sector and (ii) procedural and substantive changes in Canadian foreign and security policy. What follows is a Foucauldean theorization of the landmine case. The transformations of Canada's non-profit and voluntary sector will be examined through the notion of political rationalities. The theorization of procedural and substantive changes in Canadian foreign and security policy will be understood as a specific governmental programme carried out against the background of a changing security dispositif. Finally, the actual dynamics of the landmine case will be interpreted through the concept of governmental technologies. The conclusion addresses the findings of this article and sums up some lessons of the landmine case.