Examining the State: a Foucauldian perspective on international ‘governance indicators’

Löwenheim, Oded

doi:10.1080/01436590701806814

Cited by 126 publications

(75 citation statements)

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“…To make such a claim the Bank is directly referring its own Worldwide Governance Indicators. These indicators face considerable criticism for their accuracy and political bias (Thomas, 2010;Langebin andKnack, 2009, Arndt, 2008; on power/knowledge see Löwenheim, 2008). However, for policymakers engaged in global land governance, this is a mere footnote because the Bank's expert authority (and the reverence of G8 and many G20 officials for the World Bank's data producing prowess) ensure its arguments are heard loud and clear.…”

Section: Counting Land Grabs and The Politics Of Numbers/measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Grabbing and Global Governance: Critical Perspectives

2013

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Land grabbing has emerged as a significant issue in contemporary global governance that cuts across the fields of development, investment, food security, among others. Whereas land grabbing per se is not a new phenomenon, having historical precedents in the eras of imperialism, the character, scale, pace, orientation and key drivers of the recent wave of land grabs is a distinct historical phenomenon closely tied to major shifts in power and production in the global political economy. Land grabbing is facilitated by ever greater flows of capital, goods, and ideas across borders, and these flows occur through axes of power that are far more polycentric than the North-South imperialist tradition. In this introduction we argue that land grabbing speaks to many of the core questions of globalization studies. However, we note scholars of globalization have yet to deeply engage with this new field. We situate land grabbing in an era of advanced capitalism, multiple global crises and the role of new configurations of power and resistance in global governance institutions. The essays in this collection contribute to identifying land grabbing as an important and urgent topic for theoretical and empirical investigations to deepen our understanding of contemporary globalization and governance.

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Section: Counting Land Grabs and The Politics Of Numbers/measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Grabbing and Global Governance: Critical Perspectives

2013

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“…Löwenheim 2008;Busse 2015). However, a research gap remains: how do indicators relate to norms that are widely conceptualized as pre-existing normative standards of governing?…”

Section: Operationalization and Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

After decision-making: the operationalization of norms in International Relations

Huelss

2017

Int. Theory

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Research on norms in International Relations (IR) includes various concepts related to how norms influence actions. These approaches focus on the decision-making process, and largely neglect the operationalization of norms. This omission leads to an analytical gap: a lack of attention to how the substance of abstract norms is transformed and constructed in the operationalization process. This article draws on the Foucauldian theme of governmentality to introduce a novel perspective on operationalizing norms. It focusses in particular on the role of techniques as understudied parts inherent to the reflexive processes of operationalization and meaning production. The article thereby contests the prevalence of fundamental norms in conventional IR theory. It demonstrates, instead, that global governance techniques do not simply translate rationalities into practice, but construct their very own normativities. These theoretical reflections are illustrated by analysing the operationalization of norms through indicators in the case of the European Union’s human rights policy.

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“…An excellent example is provided by Oded Löwenheim (2008), who shows how international good governance measurements serve to discursively reproduce global hierarchies and saddle poor countries, rather than the powerful states and international organizations, with the responsibility of their own (under) development. In this issue, Le Bourhis examines the promotion and resistance on various environmental or sustainable development indicators (SDIs).…”

Section: Politics Of Comparative Quantification 321mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous analysis on rankings and governance indicators have emphasized the power at play in rankings (Löwenheim 2008 Seifert et al 2013). In 2014 JCPA published a special issue on corruption and trust.…”

Section: Comparing Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 99%