This paper examines how governmentality has changed in the past decade. Since the 1980s, we have experienced the hegemony of economic liberalism (or neo-liberalism) and the spread of globalization. But at the beginning of 21st century, and especially over the past 10 years, politicians’ way of discussing these issues has changed and supporters of a kind of anti-globalism or skepticism of free market society have considerably increased.
There are several arguments for the support of market mechanisms and market society. Among them, I examine the concepts of ‘trickle-down’ theory, ‘limited government’ and ‘doux commerce.’ These ideas are becoming more and more dubious and the distrust of the global market system has given birth to a big wave of new political movements (both conservative and liberal). I show that this kind of distrust has a long history and even at the birth of market theory, judicious thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau radically criticized market-oriented society.
To understand and evaluate new political trends more concretely, it is useful to consider Michel Foucault’s idea of governmentality and Karl Polanyi’s scheme of market versus society. Recent political demands can be seen as a revolt against market-oriented governmentality and a reflection of the serious need to create a new governmentality that can regulate and moderate the severe effects of global market forces.
