As much as I’d like to fancy myself clever enough to invent the name governmentality, I didn’t. The innovative concept originated with the historian-theorist, Michel Foucault.
But I didn’t just borrow a creative term for my blog's name. Governmentality, as Foucault conceptualized it, is fitting for those who study, think about, write about, report on and seek to understand politics. Foucault, after all, was not just the academic-intellectual; many forget he reported for Le Monde on numerous occasions, including the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Foucault was never able to finish his work on governmentality before he died in 1984. And because of that loss, governmentality has taken on an almost as many different meanings as the number of people who have written about it. In this blog, for the sake of brevity, think about governmentality as a kind of "governmental rationality." The idea is that there is an internal logic to the ways that government and other institutions organize people that makes it easy for governing to take place. This is a powerful capability, making power not just hierarchical or taking the form of brute force but power, for Foucault, takes the form of social normalizing and control in disciplinary institutions (schools, hospitals, psychiatric institutions, etc.) as well as in forms of knowledge.
This is still a blog about politics as we know it (elections, scandals, speeches, corruption, policies, lobbyists, etc.) but with an eye toward acknowledging all those things as part of the concept of governmentality. With this blog, in no way am I trying to enter the discussion of what Foucault meant in his theory of governmentality. Instead, I prefer to be inspired by his understanding of power and governmentality and, I would venture to say, all without ever writing his name or explicitly using his theory.
Admitting all of this will get me in trouble with academics and media folks, alike. Academics will think the blog will be Foucault-lite and journalists will think my ability to report "objectively" will be tainted by a theory-laden worldview.
I’m ok with both criticisms.
What should you expect to find here?
Lots of things, actually.
I’ll post several times a day—not so many that it’s overwhelming, but hopefully enough to keep you interested and coming back.
You’ll find me in debates with other writers and bloggers, my take on what other are saying, recaps of foreign news sources and stories, attention to underreported stories, links to articles I’ve written, interviews with the stars, profiles of people in the news (or ought to be), featured blogs and websites, more questions than answers, and some laughs too.
Here are some of the regular posts you can expect to see :
Mondays I’ll write a post called “5 Things to Watch for This Week” where I won’t exactly predict the future, but I’ll suggest some stories that are worth following.
Wednesdays I’ll write a post called “Fahgettaboudit.” By midweek, there are so many stories that we just don’t need to hear about anymore and I’ll tell you why.
By week's end, I’ll post a mailbag sort of thing called “That’s What S/he Said” where I’ll recap and respond to comments on posts and email I receive. With any luck, there’ll be such a great response to the blog it’ll be more frequently than Fridays.
Soon to come, on weekends you can expect a book review.
And you can keep up with what I've been publishing elsewhere in the sidebar.
Learn more about me here.
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