A political genealogy of political economy

Varieties of Neo-liberalism: a Foucaultian perspective

“…According to Meuret (1988) Smith's account of political economy succeeded in imposing itself 'because it offered through a rede nition of the economy and the state, new rules of the game to its players: the State, capitalism and the public' (p. 52). He treats this almost as a 'diplomatic' treaty, but it is not just political, because it was a compromise which each had to accept in order to be protected against the other two.…”

“…Denis Meuret (1988) asks how we are to understand this question: 'why at the end of the eighteenth century Smithean political economy supplanted other representations of the economy, those of other schools of economists as well as those conveyed by different political thinkers' (p. 55). Meuret's answer is that Smith provided a new 'representation' of the economy, a new de nition of the State's legitimacy concerning its role towards the economy and its political relationships with its populace or citizens so that governmentality was served-the best distribution of things, etc.…”

“…Whilst accepting Foucault's account of genealogy as providing an account of why political economy was to adopt and develop Smith rather than ISSN Ferguson, it needs to be part of a wider account of which it would be a necessary part. Here I look at the account offered by Meuret (1988). Finally, I explore Austin's (1962) account of performative language, arguing that Foucault and Meuret need to consider such aspects of language for their account to 'go through'.…”

A History of Contemporary Political Economy and Postmodernism

“…In this sense, it is a byproduct of neoclassical economic imperialism. Meuret's (1988) "political genealogy of political economy" is an interesting attempt to propose a postmodernist interpretation of the birth and establishment of political economy. Meuret's framework is based on a combination of Foucault's theory of knowledge (as a program of truth but without calling into question its actual truthfulness) and the Annales's economic historiography.…”

Is It Really a Sisyphus Torture? Political Economy of Everyday Life

“…On the other hand, contemporary political economy, as an interdisciplinary research area, has turned its attention to the neglected domains of neoclassical economics. Meuret (1988) defines this re-emerging political economy as the articulation of co-existing three forces within a society: "These forces [a]re those that all the authors of this century tried to articulate: the state, capitalism, and those who tried to protect themselves from their power". Meuret's emphasize on power broadens the framework of political economy and opens up new possibilities to analyze the everyday life of ordinary people.…”