Regulatory State and Sovereignty Lecture 2

Lecture 2: Regulatory State, Sovereignty, and Global Governance

• Focus: Regulatory state, networks, and sovereignty beyond the state.
• Rise of the Regulatory State: Triggered by economic stagnation, high inflation, and high unemployment in the 1970s.
• "Rolling Back of the State": Marked by privatization, deregulation, competition and Independent Regulatory Agencies (IRAs).
• Regulatory State Characteristics: Non-interventionist approach, privatization of key utilities, dominance of governance technologies, operates within a globalized world, IRAs collaborating in networks, and specialized agencies protecting consumer interests.
• Parliamentary Sovereignty (Dicey): Parliament holds ultimate law-making authority, with no other body overriding its legislation.
• Sovereignty (Loughlin): Absolute legal authority of the ruling power, encompassing principles of external independence, internal authority, and ultimate legal supremacy.
• Westphalian System: Each state has exclusive sovereignty within its borders and equal sovereignty rights.
• Globalization: Growing interdependence of economies, cultures, and populations due to cross-border trade, technology, and information flows. It intensifies related relations, and includes globalization of firms and markets, and regulations.
• Globalization's Impact on State Authority (Cox): Globalization alters state authority by establishing a multilevel post-Westphalian order where the state is a component within a larger structure of authority.
• Complex Sovereignty: Transformation and reconstitution of nation-state concept within a globalized economic framework. It features a fragmented state model and the emergence of international structures.
• Disaggregated State (Slaughter): The unitary state model is obsolete. A globalized world order comprises interconnected networks of governance between state branches, gaining substantial global influence.
• Governmentality (Foucault): New government approach distinct from classical sovereignty understandings. Power is productive rather than solely repressive, part of a "power-knowledge" nexus.
• Power-Knowledge (Foucault): Knowledge production is tied to power relationships. Power involves knowledge structures that simultaneously presuppose and create power dynamics.
• Modern Power Techniques (Foucault): Statistical knowledge production, welfare production, citizen discipline, and creation of surveillance and security apparatuses.
• Panopticon (Bentham): Prison design where inmates are constantly observable, leading to self-regulation. Its concept mirrors modern surveillance practices.
• Governmentality Considerations (Public Law 2): Understand regulatory state traits, Foucault's concepts of modern governance (expertise, norms, data), and individual decision-making processes.
• Research Sources: Books, academic journals, reputable blog posts and reputable newspaper articles. Prioritize quality and relevance over quantity.
• Essay Writing Process: Plan, draft, edit, redraft, proof.
• Assessment 1 Topics: Regulatory vs. welfare state, role of the state in past 2 decades, ongoing crises, state sovereignty in governance models, key term definitions, author analysis, and implications of context on the state's role.
• Further Foucault Reading: Mitchell Dean's "Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern Society" and Bal Sokhi-Bulley's "Governmentality: Notes on the Thought of Michel Foucault".