Rethinking Law, Society and Governance: Foucault's Bequest

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A set of essays engaging with some aspects of Foucault's notion of governmentality, particularly at the junction where law/regulation meets "the social". "The social", as a special sphere of government, is a special area of concern for those working within broad intellectual spaces of the "governmentality approach". Is it the basis of modern liberal systems of government Is it dead, or even feeling unwell Has it spawned hybrid forms of government like neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism, or even neo-socialism In making their presence felt in the debates that have flourished around such questions, especially by highlighting the subtleties of the roles played by law and regulation in the governance of the social, the authors of the essays - David Brown; Jo Goodie; Russell Hogg and Kerry Carrington; Jeff Malpas; Pat O'Malley; George Pavlich; Annette Pedersen; Kevin Stenson; and William Walters - range widely. There are pieces on liberal government and resistance to it, some on particular targets of government, like unemployment, crime, "law and order", even Australian geography, environment and cultural products, and some that delve into philosophical/methodological issues.

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the advantage is that the broad base of the authors' approaches results in something thought provoking for a variety of readers. Few post-graduate level readers interested in law and order would not find engaging moments and compelling discussion in this text. It is interesting to read the sometimes sharply contrasting arguments next to one another. -- Trish Oberweis, Southern Illinois University * The Law and Politics Book Review *

Author Bio

Gary Wickham is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Murdoch University in Western Australia. George Pavlich is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Alberta.