2013/2014  KAN-SOC_VFDP  Governmentality Paradigms: Diagnosing the Present

English Title

Governmentality Paradigms: Diagnosing the Present

Course information
Language	English
Exam ECTS	7.5 ECTS
Type	Elective
Level	Full Degree Master
Duration	One Semester
Course period	Autumn Changes in course schedule may occur Thursday 09.50-12.25, week 36-41, 43-46
Time Table	Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Max. participants	100
Study board	Study Board for MSc of Social Science
Course coordinator
Mitchell Dean - MPP
Administration: Karina Ravn Nielsen, 3815 3782, electives.lpf@cbs.dk
Main academic disciplines
International Political Economy International Politics Organization Political Science Political leadership, public management and international politics Economic and organizational sociology
Last updated on 17-04-2013

Learning objectives

Having followed the course, students are expected to: identify the sources, development and diffusion of governmentality and related concepts. demonstrate an overview of an increasingly hybridized field. illustrate the different ways and contexts in which governmentality is being used in empirical work. apply governmentality concepts in problem oriented research/assignment.

Examination

Governmentality Paradigms: Diagnosing the Present: Examination form Home assignment - written product Individual or group exam Individual Size of written product Max. 10 pages Assignment type Case based assignment Duration 48 hours to prepare Grading scale 7-step scale Examiner(s) One internal examiner Exam period December/January Make-up exam/re-exam Same examination form as the ordinary exam

Course content and structure

Over recent decades, Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality, concerning the arts, rationalities and technologies of governing of diverse agencies, has been developed into a research program and been used across the social and political sciences. One can distinguish three phases: Foucault’s lectures on the topic (and some associated French work), the development of governmentality as an analytical strategy mainly in Anglo-phonic contexts (UK, Australia, Canada), and the more recent diffusion and dispersion of the research program (continental Europe).  The latter can take the forms of its application and development in new fields (e.g. international relations, security studies, risk, financialisation), its alignment with other theories and strategies (from post- Marxism to actor-network theory), or its radical rethinking as initiated by Giorgio Agamben’s work on the theological genealogy of government.  Some attempts have been made to distinguish constructivist and realist versions of governmentality studies and between more or less ‘critical’ versions. The course aims to be an overview of governmentality as it operates today through a number of paradigms rather than taking it as a canonical form.  These paradigms concern such concrete examples as the government of catastrophe, neoliberalism and new forms of finance, event management, and the mass and virtual media and the creation of publics.

Teaching methods

Lectures and various forms of student participation as appropriate.

Expected literature

Mitchell Dean (2010) Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern Society. Second edition. London: Sage. Compendium.