Theory and History of „Governmentality“ and Governmental Regimes in The Work of Michel Foucault

Abstract

In this article we reconstruct and systematize the theoretical apparatus used by Michel Foucault in his research on the phenomenon of governance, as well as his investigations into specific governing regimes that have existed in the history of Western modernity. The aim of the article is to contribute to the resolution of conceptual confusion that has accompanied the governmentality studies since their emergence in the early 1990s and thereby facilitate the development and application of this perspective in future research. The article begins by situating Foucault’s research on governance within the broader context of his career and highlighting the socio-political conditions under which Foucault changed the direction of his academic work towards this field. We will then proceed with a systematic exposition of some of Foucault’s basic concepts like “practice”, “power” and “dispositive”. We will also highlight how the problematic of governance entered his work through the concepts of “pastorality” and “subjectivity”. In the next section we will reconstruct the theoretical apparatus Foucault used when researching government and governmental regimes. Here we will point out the specific meaning the notion of “governmentality” has in his research and how it is used to signify rationalities embodied in governmental regimes. Considering this theoretical apparatus, we will, in the second part of this section, reconstruct the history of governmental regimes in Foucault’s work starting from the regime of raison d’État in early modernity, through the liberal regime of governance in 18th and 19th centuries and concluding with the neoliberal regime. In conclusion, we will reflect on the advantages that the perspective of governmentality studies offers in researching the social world.