THE LIMITS OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE: GOVERNMENTALITY AS AN ANALYTICAL ALTERNATIVE

Abstract

In this present article, I seek to demonstrate the possible contributions that the concept of “governmentality” can bring to the International Relations area, specifically, in the discussion about governance. To this end, I map the use of the concept of global governance in the area, its different uses and how it fits in the literature. Subsequently, I draw some criticism of the term, either because of its conceptual breadth, which supposedly caused its “emptying”, or for its ability to explain the changes in international politics at different historical times. Thus, despite its important conceptual contribution and research agenda, global governance has found certain limits in explaining the different interactions between public and private actors. Based on this, I bring some important contributions of governmentality studies to International Relations, and about the possibilities of research and questioning that they can bring. The aim of this article is to bring a little more of the debate “governance versus governmentality” so little approached and discussed in Brazil. Therefore, I aim to foster interest in research using such a theoretical framework, thinking of “governmentality” not as a way of “overcoming” governance, but as an alternative analytical lens for the international sphere.

Keywords

• governança global. governamentalidade. debate.