Liquid governmentalities, liquid museums and the climate crisis

Climate change governmentality is framed as a problem on the basis of normative views of science and economics; managing populations, their habits and lifestyles, and neoliberal formations where climate change is cast as an economic issue, with market mechanisms offering cost-effective technological solutions. For these reasons Foucauldian and Post Foucauldian governmentality "biopower" and "advanced liberal or neoliberal government" (Foucault 1991; Oels 2005) is widely used by theorists to analyse climate change governance and policy. In this article I critique Foucault's governmentality frame in climate change governmental analysis, and for the consideration of the roles of cultural institutions ( museums and science centres) in climate governance. I then pose a new theoretical optic and method, liquid governmentalities based on complexity theories (Bauman's (2000) liquid modernity; Urry's (2003) global complexity; Deleuze and Guattari (1987) and DeLanda's (2006) assemblages) as an logic for imagining climate change governance that reflects the complexities, entangled, trans-national and emergent qualities of climate change governmentality flows more clearly articulating the how, ways to proceed.