IR
2 WEEK
Laffey and Weldes, ‘Policing and Global Governance’
1) Why is Enloe sceptical that we can explain world politics by focusing only on
the powerful?
Enloe’s sceptical that we can explain world politics by focusing only on the
powerful because that is based on the assumption that such a focus will
provide deeper understanding of world politics. Instead, she argues that if we
study the MARGINS, SILENCES, and BOTTOM RUNGS, it’s possible to
understand the amounts and varieties of power that sustain and give form to
the system.
2) Understood as a form of discursive power, how should we think about
(neoliberal) globalization?
The neoliberal globalization is accompanied by a constant transformation of
policing and emphases on – free trade; - free markets; - flexible labour; -
competitiveness; - privatization; - commodification, all for the achievement of a
market utopia on the world scale. Neoliberal discourse is linked to processes of
capitalist restructuring and contributes to intensify capitalist logics and to
extend them.
3) In what sense does it take a lot of power to produce a neoliberal world?
It takes a lot of power to produce, and also maintain, a neoliberal world in the
sense that it implicates different forms of power being involved in the process.
The production of neoliberal order is physically enforced by specific actors
through policing practices, therefore we can notice the centrality of what
Barnett and Duvall call compulsory power. In addition to this, there are other
three forms of power: institutional, structural and productive.
4) What is global governance and how is it usually understood?
For the Commission on Global Governance, it means “global institutional
arrangements”. Global governance is usually understood to imply inter-
governmental relationships and arrangements. It emerged in the early 1990s
as trans-borders relations were growing bringing about global problems that
needed global solutions. Also, international developments, as the end of Cold
War, created the opportunity for the growth of international relationships with
the aim being the one of cooperation in order to guarantee peace.
Conventional conceptions also stress the PACIFIC character of global
governance which focuses onto issues of cooperation and policy coordination.
5) How do Laffey and Weldes define policing?
, Laffey and Weldes describe it as
- a governmental activity/mechanism of governance
- acts of governance directed toward producing security
Globalization brought about new challenges and problems (ex. conflicts) and,
therefore, new approaches to security. Policing is the response to these
problems. Policy can be
- often unsuccessful
- always discriminatory
- increasingly undertaken by a wide range of agents
Policing has changed, and these changes are linked to neoliberal globalization.
It’s now shaped by the market society/late modernity and reflects the social
relations in the context of which it takes place.
6) In what sense is neoliberal globalization – understood as a form of discursive
power - a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Neoliberal globalization is seen as a self-fulfilling prophecy because it is used to
cope with problems and conflicts created by globalization itself.
7) How does globalization relate to the production of insecurity – to various
problems – which in turn require policing?
Globalization relates to the production of insecurity, therefore requiring policing
in return, in the sense that it undermines the living conditions of much of the
world’s population. This is because neoliberal ideology implies that self-
regulating market (=no state intervention) will generate an optimal allocation
of investments and resources. On the contrary, neoliberal political practice led
to – market failure; - social polarization; - intensification of uneven
developments; -impoverishment. All these consequences of neoliberal
globalization have led to protests, social unrest, and migration. Also,
corruption, violations of human rights and of intellectual property rights.
8) What is the relation between globalization and the state as defined in
discourse and what is the actual relation, as demonstrated by a focus on
policing?
Globalization is often seen in opposition to the state since it’s about state’s loss
of control over processes of modernization, over flows of capital and culture,
people, and goods. However, this view is mistaken.
The actual relation, as demonstrated by a focus on policing, is that states are
“agencies of the globalization trend”; they make globalization possible.
2 WEEK
Laffey and Weldes, ‘Policing and Global Governance’
1) Why is Enloe sceptical that we can explain world politics by focusing only on
the powerful?
Enloe’s sceptical that we can explain world politics by focusing only on the
powerful because that is based on the assumption that such a focus will
provide deeper understanding of world politics. Instead, she argues that if we
study the MARGINS, SILENCES, and BOTTOM RUNGS, it’s possible to
understand the amounts and varieties of power that sustain and give form to
the system.
2) Understood as a form of discursive power, how should we think about
(neoliberal) globalization?
The neoliberal globalization is accompanied by a constant transformation of
policing and emphases on – free trade; - free markets; - flexible labour; -
competitiveness; - privatization; - commodification, all for the achievement of a
market utopia on the world scale. Neoliberal discourse is linked to processes of
capitalist restructuring and contributes to intensify capitalist logics and to
extend them.
3) In what sense does it take a lot of power to produce a neoliberal world?
It takes a lot of power to produce, and also maintain, a neoliberal world in the
sense that it implicates different forms of power being involved in the process.
The production of neoliberal order is physically enforced by specific actors
through policing practices, therefore we can notice the centrality of what
Barnett and Duvall call compulsory power. In addition to this, there are other
three forms of power: institutional, structural and productive.
4) What is global governance and how is it usually understood?
For the Commission on Global Governance, it means “global institutional
arrangements”. Global governance is usually understood to imply inter-
governmental relationships and arrangements. It emerged in the early 1990s
as trans-borders relations were growing bringing about global problems that
needed global solutions. Also, international developments, as the end of Cold
War, created the opportunity for the growth of international relationships with
the aim being the one of cooperation in order to guarantee peace.
Conventional conceptions also stress the PACIFIC character of global
governance which focuses onto issues of cooperation and policy coordination.
5) How do Laffey and Weldes define policing?
, Laffey and Weldes describe it as
- a governmental activity/mechanism of governance
- acts of governance directed toward producing security
Globalization brought about new challenges and problems (ex. conflicts) and,
therefore, new approaches to security. Policing is the response to these
problems. Policy can be
- often unsuccessful
- always discriminatory
- increasingly undertaken by a wide range of agents
Policing has changed, and these changes are linked to neoliberal globalization.
It’s now shaped by the market society/late modernity and reflects the social
relations in the context of which it takes place.
6) In what sense is neoliberal globalization – understood as a form of discursive
power - a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Neoliberal globalization is seen as a self-fulfilling prophecy because it is used to
cope with problems and conflicts created by globalization itself.
7) How does globalization relate to the production of insecurity – to various
problems – which in turn require policing?
Globalization relates to the production of insecurity, therefore requiring policing
in return, in the sense that it undermines the living conditions of much of the
world’s population. This is because neoliberal ideology implies that self-
regulating market (=no state intervention) will generate an optimal allocation
of investments and resources. On the contrary, neoliberal political practice led
to – market failure; - social polarization; - intensification of uneven
developments; -impoverishment. All these consequences of neoliberal
globalization have led to protests, social unrest, and migration. Also,
corruption, violations of human rights and of intellectual property rights.
8) What is the relation between globalization and the state as defined in
discourse and what is the actual relation, as demonstrated by a focus on
policing?
Globalization is often seen in opposition to the state since it’s about state’s loss
of control over processes of modernization, over flows of capital and culture,
people, and goods. However, this view is mistaken.
The actual relation, as demonstrated by a focus on policing, is that states are
“agencies of the globalization trend”; they make globalization possible.
