Page 42 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

28 Changing Definitions of Politics and Power

in Dean, 1994 : chapter 8 ; also Rose and Miller, 1992 ; Curtis, 1995 ; Rose
and Miller, 1995 ). The “ conduct of conduct ” is plural, attempted in dif-
ferent ways in institutions and practices across the social fi eld. As such,
governmentality is constructive of centralized state power, strengthening
and extending it; at the same time, state institutions further disciplinary
power through activities in which states specialize, such as passing legisla-
tion or raising taxes to support large - scale knowledge production with
which to manage the “ population. ”
One of the most influential developments of Foucauldian ideas of “ gov-

ernmentality ” has been the analysis of neo - liberalism. For Foucauldians,
liberalism is not a political theory, or an ideology, but rather a practice:
“ a “ way of doing things ” oriented towards objectives and regulating
itself by means of a sustained refl ection ” (Foucault, 1997 : 73 – 4). Neo -
liberalism, by extension, is a practice, dominant in the West by the end
of the twentieth century and to a certain extent spread across the world
that is informed by the aim of “ rolling back the frontiers of the state, ”
which neo - liberals theorize as having intruded too far into the private
sphere of the economy. For neo - liberals, the scope of state activities
must be reduced in order to stimulate and maintain markets to create
more wealth, but also for the sake of individual freedom, which is
undermined by the extension of law and bureaucracy into private lives.
“ Rolling back the frontiers of the state ” involves not just stimulating
markets for goods and services by reducing regulation, but also creating
markets where there were none before, especially within the public
sector and organizations previously governed by bureaucratic hierarchies.
It has gone far beyond the marketization of welfare, education, and
health associated with attempts to cut public spending, the sale of public
assets, and the deregulation of labor markets. Neo - liberal practice has,
for example, gone so far as to marketize the prison service, turning over
practices of punishment which, as Nikolas Rose points out, were previ-
ously considered essential to state sovereignty (Rose, 1999 : 146).
Inevitably, of course, the creation of such quasi - markets out of what
were previously taken - for - granted as state practices actually requires
a great deal of state activity, to set targets, regulate standards, and
monitor outputs. Insofar as markets cannot do without state regulation,
neo - liberalism is incoherent (Tonkiss, 2001 ). In practice, Foucauldians
argue that neo - liberalism has resulted in the creation of a certain kind
of individual, an entrepreneurial self who understands her/himself to
be free to choose in the market, but who must then exercise choice
continuously and correctly if s/he is not to suffer the stigma and