Beyond histories of the present

A group of leading critical writers in the school of governmentality studies have recently called for a debate over the methodological and political direction of studies of complex modes of government beyond the confines of the state. This paper traces the divisions within the field to Foucault's ambiguous methodological legacy, in particular to an impoverished theorization of sovereignty. Rather, this paper emphasizes its centripetal function, within and between nation states, in maintaining hybrid forms of liberal rule in the effort to manage the centrifugal tendencies endemic in a pluralist, liberal order. These modes of rule operate in tension with the role of liberalism as critique. On the basis of this analysis, it is argued that radical critique within this field is limited, erroneously distances critique from liberalism and would be unduly restrictive for governmentality theorists who wish to perform a more central role as public intellectuals. Liberalism could once more be the principal focus for a normatively committed form of governmentality studies, which, in turn, could emerge as its principal vehicle for immanent critique and renewal.