This article follows Nikolas Rose in recognising this tendency to display the orientation of Western neo-liberal democracies (principally the United States and United Yet while Kingdom) towards “governing through community” (1999:192). is upon a distributed appeal to the ethical self an Rose’s primary focus therein – the article examines a different aspect of this form of governing described by power’ – Rose, namely the discursive foregrounding of the lost authority of the state, and its accompanying project for authority to be returned to the community. In this change of emphasis, the article seeks to respond to certain blind spots engagement within Rose’s of this dynamic, most importantly to the lack of analysis of the nature of authority. Through the concept of a of lost I describe the pressing question of ‘politics authority’ this through community’ to be less the enticement of the ethical subject ‘government than the drive to fill the loss of community with close-knit, neighbourly relationships that would regulate behaviour in a more This shift of emphasis ‘intimate’ manner. demands not only a reappraisal of community and authority, but also of political action. The aim of the article is to provide a response to the failure within ‘governmentality’ studies to articulate a political approach to the terrain of community empowerment and behavioural interventions beyond the negativity of critique. The rejoinder posed however is drawn not from the communitarian tracts of which Rose and others are directly critical, but from the work of Jean-Luc Nancy (1991, 1993, 1997, 2000; Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy, 1997a, 1997b), alluded to without being fully explored in (1999:195). I explore how approach both Rose’s work Nancy’s re-configures our understanding of what is at stake in these political developments and allows for the articulation, albeit in a very different form, of an alternative political practice of work is presented in the article through its re-working community. Nancy’s
This article follows Nikolas Rose in recognising this tendency to display the orientation of Western neo-liberal democracies (principally the United States and United Kingdom) towards “governing through community” (1999:192). Yet while Rose’s primary focus therein is upon a distributed appeal to the ethical self – an – the article examines a different aspect of this form of governing described by Rose, namely the discursive foregrounding of the lost authority of the state, and its accompanying project for authority to be returned to the community. In this change of emphasis, the article seeks to respond to certain blind spots within Rose’s engagement of this dynamic, most importantly to the lack of analysis of the nature of authority. Through the concept of a ‘politics of lost authority’ I describe the pressing question of this ‘government through community’ to be less the enticement of the ethical subject than the drive to fill the loss of community with close-knit, neighbourly relationships that would regulate behaviour in a more ‘intimate’ manner. This shift of emphasis demands not only a reappraisal of community and authority, but also of political action. The aim of the article is to provide a response to the failure within ‘governmentality’ studies to articulate a political approach to the terrain of community empowerment and behavioural interventions beyond the negativity of critique. The rejoinder posed however is drawn not from the communitarian tracts of which Rose and others are directly critical, but from the work of Jean-Luc Nancy (1991, 1993, 1997, 2000; Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy, 1997a, 1997b), alluded to without being fully explored in Rose’s work (1999:195). I explore how Nancy’s approach both re-configures our understanding of what is at stake in these political developments and allows for the articulation, albeit in a very different form, of an alternative political practice of community. Nancy’s work is presented in the article through its re-working power’