Governmentality, criticism, politics

The growth of the governmentality literature represents a significant development in current social theory. However, certain prominent and interlinked tendencies, which are associated with the place of politics as a subject and object of theoretical work, are queried. Most especially the concerns are with: the rejection of critique as part of the work of social theory; the rendering of government programmes as univocal and as overly coherent and systematic; and the focus on politics as 'mentalities of rule' to the virtual exclusion of understanding politics as social relations. The paper explores some of these difficulties which are here seen as presenting problems for the future develop ment of governmentality research and theory. Without aiming to systematize the literature, nevertheless the paper suggests that the time is overdue for central issues in the literature of governmentality to become the subject of more open and vigorous debate.