Assembling the space economy : governmentality and economic geography

The emergence of a ‘new’ economic geography in recent years has emphasised the ways economic processes are inextricably linked to political, cultural and social processes. This article argues that the Foucauldian governmentality literature has the potential to make a contribution here through its operationalisation of the idea that ‘the economic’emerges as a sphere that is distinct from the political, cultural and social spheres rather than being distinct a priori. Drawing on work at the intersection of economic geography and governmentality, this article shows how governmentality has provided a distinctive perspective on many of the key concepts and processes economic geographers study, including particular spaces like the region, particular actors like the manager, and the processes of globalisation and neoliberalism. It is argued that governmentality analysis reveals how knowledge about these concepts and processes shapes their realisation through informing the rationalised deployment of existing and reinvented technologies and programmes of government. The article concludes by arguing that bringing economic geography and governmentality agendas together in theoretically and methodologically innovative research programmes has benefits for both: for the former further cultivating an appreciation for the particular role of the myriad of actors, knowledges and technologies involved in the formation of economic systems, and for the latter by extending the spatial scope of governmentality analyses that have tended to focus on governmental regimes associated with the spatiality of the nation-state.