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Regional Biopolitics
JOE PAINTER
Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. Email: j.m.painter@durham.ac.uk
PAINTER J. Regional biopolitics, Regional Studies. This paper seeks to bring ideas about biopolitics and its associated political tech-
nologies to bear on the variety of regional geographies that affect the practices of governing populations today. After outlining
some of the ways in which populations and their characteristics feature as matters of governmental concern, the paper then
briefly summarizes Michel Foucault’s account of biopolitics and its association with the formation of national population and
nation-states. While there are good reasons why discussions of biopolitics have tended to emphasize the national scale, a full
account of biopolitical practices would also attend to the complex spatialities of populations and government. Drawing on
Stephen Legg’s scalar account of the relationship between population, biopolitics and government, the paper considers the tenta-
tive emergence of what might be termed regional biopolitics in contemporary Europe. Recent changes in workforce skills policy
in the United Kingdom provide a case study to examine how a typical biopolitical concern (the skill levels of the population) relates
to the rise and subsequent fall of regional governance in England.
PAINTER J. La biopolitique régionale, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à faire peser des questions à l’égard de la biopolitique et
des technologies politiques connexes sur la diversité des géographies régionales qui influent aujourd’hui sur la gouvernance. Une
fois esquissé quelques-unes des façons dont les populations et leurs traits figurent en tant que questions qui préoccupent l’adminis-
tration, l’article résume brièvement le compte-rendu de Michel Foucault au sujet de la biopolitique et de son lien avec l’établisse-
ment des populations nationales et des États-nations. Alors qu’il y a de bonnes raisons pourquoi des discussions sur la biopolitique
ont eu tendance à focaliser l’échelle nationale, un compte-rendu détaillé des pratiques biopolitiques aborderait aussi les spatialités
des populations et de l’administration. Puisant dans le compte-rendu scalaire de Stephen Legg à propos du rapport entre les popu-
lations, la biopolitique et l’administration, cet article aborde les premiers pas vers la biopolitique régionale dans l’Europe contem-
poraine. Au Royaume-Uni, des modifications apportées récemment à la politique en faveur des compétences professionnelles
fournissent une étude de cas pour examiner comment une question biopolitique type (les niveaux de compétences de la popu-
lation) se rapporte à l’essor et au déclin de la gouvernance en Angleterre.
PAINTER J. Regionale Biopolitik, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag werden Ideen über Biopolitik und die zugehörigen poli-
tischen Technologien im Zusammenhang mit den verschiedenartigen regionalen Geografien, die sich heute auf die Praktiken
beim Regieren von Bevölkerungen auswirken, vorgestellt. Nach Beschreibung einiger Beispiele dafür, auf welche Weise Bevöl-
kerungen und ihre Merkmale für Regierungen von Interesse sind, wird Michel Foucaults Beschreibung der Biopolitik und ihrer
Verknüpfung mit der Bildung von nationalen Bevölkerungen und Nationalstaaten kurz zusammengefasst. Obwohl es gute Gründe
dafür gibt, dass bei einer Erörterung der Biopolitik in der Regel der nationale Maßstab betont wird, würde eine vollständige Auf-
stellung der biopolitischen Praktiken auch den komplexen Räumlichkeiten von Bevölkerungen und Regierungen Rechnung
tragen. Ausgehend von Stephen Leggs skalarer Darstellung der Beziehung zwischen Bevölkerung, Biopolitik und Regierung
wird in diesem Beitrag das zögerliche Entstehen einer Entwicklung untersucht, die sich als regionale Biopolitik im modernen
Europa bezeichnen ließe. Die jüngsten Änderungen bei der britischen Politik zur Weiterbildung von Arbeitskräften bieten
eine Fallstudie zur Untersuchung der Frage, wie ein typisch biopolitischer Aspekt (der Ausbildungsstand der Bevölkerung) mit
dem Aufstieg und anschließenden Niedergang der regionalen Regierungsführung in England zusammenhängt.
PAINTER J. Biopolítica regional, Regional Studies. El objetivo de este artículo es aportar ideas sobre la biopolítica y sus tecnologías
políticas relacionadas que aborden las diferentes geografías regionales que afectan a las prácticas de gobierno de la población de hoy
día. Tras explicar algunos de las maneras en las que las poblaciones y sus características representan un interés para el Gobierno, en
este artículo resumimos brevemente el relato de Michel Foucault sobre la biopolítica y su relación con la formación de poblaciones
y estados nacionales. Aunque existen buenas razones para explicar por qué en los debates se suele hacer hincapié en la biopolítica a
escala nacional, un relato completo de las prácticas biopolíticas también serviría para tener en cuenta las espacialidades complejas de
poblaciones y gobierno. Basándonos en la descripción escalar de Stephen Legg de la relación entre población, biopolítica y
gobierno, en este artículo consideramos la paulatina aparición de lo que podríamos llamar biopolítica regional en la Europa
actual. Los recientes cambios en la política británica sobre las cualificaciones de la mano de obra sirven de estudio de caso para
examinar de qué modo un problema típico de biopolítica (los niveles de capacitación de la población) se relaciona con el
aumento y la posterior caída del gobierno regional en Inglaterra.
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