Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rethinking (De)Politicisation in Liberalism: Macro- and Micro-political Perspectives

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Comparing Strategies of (De)Politicisation in Europe

Abstract

The traditional literature in depoliticisation studies has treated depoliticisation chiefly as a technique of modern governance. This chapter suggests that more attention needs to be paid to the ideological/structural character of this tendency. Following a critical analysis of Colin Hay’s linear model of (de)politicisation, it provides a structural explanation for (de)politicisation dynamics through a philosophical engagement with Michel Foucault’s and Karl Polanyi’s discussion of liberalism. This macro-level of analysis is then supplemented with a micro-perspective of the (de)politicisation dynamics through the Michel Foucault’s notion of counter-conduct and the Derridean cyclical conception of power. The largely poststructuralist approach in this chapter ultimately aims to expose the conceptual ambiguities and contradictions that lie underneath the simple and clear-cut understandings of depoliticisation and repoliticisation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Bauman, Z. (1997). Postmodernity and Its Discontent. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z. (2007). Liquid Times: Living in Times of Uncertainty. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benjamin, W. (1996). Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 1, 1913–1926 (M. Bullock & M. W. Jennings, Eds.). London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (Reprinted).

    Google Scholar 

  • BoE. (2014). Speech Given by Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England at the 146th Annual Trades Union Congress, Liverpool‚ 9 September 2014. Available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/speech/2014/mark-carney-speech-at-the-trades-union-congress.pdf (21 April 2018).

  • Boltanski, L., & Chiapello, E. (2005). The New Spirit of Capitalism. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, W. (2015). Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. New York: Zone Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burawoy, M. (2013). Marxism After Polanyi. In M. Williams & V. Satgar (Eds.), Marxisms in the 21st Century: Crisis, Critique & Struggle (pp. 34–52). Johannesburg: Wits University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham, P. (2001). New Labour and the Politics of Depoliticisation. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 3(2), 127–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Busch, K., Hermann, C., Hinrichs, K., & Schulten, T. (2013). Euro Crisis, Austerity Policy and the European Social Model: How Crisis Policies in Southern Europe Threaten the EU’s Social Dimension. International Policy Analysis, Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, February 2014. Available at: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/ipa/09656.pdf (18 March 2015).

  • Crozier, M., Huntington, S. P., & Watanuki, J. (1975). The Crisis of Democracy: Report on the Governability of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale, G. (2010). Karl Polanyi: The Limits of the Market. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • della Porta, D. (2015). Social Movements in Times of Austerity: Bringing Capitalism Back into Protest Analysis. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • della Porta, D., & Mattoni, A. (Eds.). (2014). Spreading Protest: Social Movements in Times of Crisis. Colchester: ECPR Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, J. (1992). Force of Law: The “Mystical Foundation of Authority”. In D. Cornell, M. Rosenfeld, & D. G. Carlson (Eds.), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice (pp. 3–67). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Digeser, P. (1992). The Fourth Face of Power. The Journal of Politics, 54(4), 977–1007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flinders, M., & Buller, J. (2006). Depoliticisation: Principles Tactics and Tools. British Politics, 1(3), 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge (Vol. 1, R. Hurley, Trans.). London: Penguin Books, 1998 (Reprinted).

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972–1977. Brighton: The Harvester Press Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (2008). The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the College de France, 1978–1979. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (2009). Security, Territory: Population, Lectures at the College de France, 1977–1978. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1976). Legitimation Crisis. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hay, C. (2007). Why We Hate Politics. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Himmelstrand, U. (1962). A Theoretical and Empirical Approach to Depoliticization and Political Involvement. Acta Sociologica, 6(2), 83–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HM Treasury. (2014). Letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Governor of the Bank of England. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293733/Letter_from_the_Chancellor_of_the_Exchequer_to_the_Governor_of_the_Bank_of_England_MPC_19032014.pdf (22 April 2018).

  • House of Commons. (2013). Appointment of Dr Mark Carney as Governor of the Bank of England. Eight Report of Session 2012–2013. Available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmtreasy/944/944.pdf (21 April 2018).

  • Jessop, B. (2007). State Power: A Strategic-Relational Approach. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katsambekis, G., & Kioupkiolis, A. (Eds.). (2014). Radical Democracy and Collective Movements Today: The Biopolitics of the Multitude Versus the Hegemony of the People. Farnham and Burlington: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, A. (1975). Overload: Problems of Governing in the 1970s. Political Studies, 23(2–3), 284–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kioupkiolis, A. (2016). Podemos: The Ambiguous Promises of Left-Wing Populism in Contemporary Spain. Journal of Political Ideologies, 21(2), 99–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuzemko, C. (2014). Politicising UK Energy: What ‘Speaking Energy Security’ Can Do. Policy & Politics, 42(2), 259–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levien, M., & Paret, M. (2012). A Second Double Movement? Polanyi and Shifting Global Opinions on Neoliberalism. International Sociology, 27(6), 724–744.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipset, S. M. (1960). Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouffe, C. (2000). The Democratic Paradox. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouffe, C. (2005). On the Political. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouffe, C. (2013). Agonistics: Thinking the World Politically. London: Verso Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Offe, C. (1984). Contradictions of the Welfare State. London: Hutchinson & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, W. (1982). Politics Without Promises: The Crisis of “Overload” and Governability. Parliamentary Affairs, 35(4), 421–435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, K. (2001). The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rancière, J. (1999). Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rancière, J. (2010). Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sartori, G. (1975). Will Democracy Kill Democracy? Decision-Making by Majorities and by Committees. Government and Opposition, 10(2), 131–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silver, B. J., & Karataşli, Ş. Ş. (2015). Historical Dynamics of Capitalism and Labor Movements. In D. della Porta & M. Diani (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements (pp. 133–145). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simeon, R. E. B. (1976). The ‘Overload Thesis’ and Canadian Government. Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques, 2(4), 541–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stavrakakis, Y., & Katsambekis, G. (2014). Left-Wing Populism in the European Periphery: The Case of SYRIZA. Journal of Political Ideologies, 19(2), 119–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, A. (1977). The Limits of Legitimacy: Political Contradictions of Contemporary Capitalism. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, E. M. (1981). Liberal Democracy and Capitalist Hegemony: A Reply to Leo Panitch on the Task of Socialist Political Theory. The Socialist Register, 18(18), 169–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, E. M. (1983). Marxism Without Class Struggle? The Socialist Register, 20, 239–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, E. M. (1995). Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, E. M. (2002). The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, M., & Flinders, M. (2014). Rethinking Depoliticisation: Beyond the Governmental. Policy & Politics, 42(2), 135–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Žižek, S. (1999). The Ticklish Subject: The Absent Centre of Political Ontology. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Alen Toplišek

Authors
  1. Alen Toplišek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alen Toplišek .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of York, York, United Kingdom

    Jim Buller

  2. Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

    Pınar E. Dönmez

  3. Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Adam Standring

  4. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Matthew Wood

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Toplišek, A. (2019). Rethinking (De)Politicisation in Liberalism: Macro- and Micro-political Perspectives. In: Buller, J., Dönmez, P., Standring, A., Wood, M. (eds) Comparing Strategies of (De)Politicisation in Europe . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64236-9_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation