Green Governmentality and its Closeted Metaphysics: Toward an Ontological Relationality by Sébastien Malette B.A., Laval University, 2004 M.A., Laval University, 2006 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Political Science with a concentration in Cultural, Social and Political Thought Sébastien Malette, 2010 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Green Governmentality and its Closeted Metaphysics: Toward an Ontological Relationality by Sébastien Malette B.A., Laval University, 2004 M.A., Laval University, 2006 Supervisory Committee Dr. Warren Magnusson, Department of Political Science (CSPT) Supervisor Dr. Rob Walker, Department of Political Science (CSPT) Departmental Member Dr. Michael Asch, Departments of Anthropology and Political Science (CSPT) Departmental Member Dr. Alan Drengson, School of Environmental Studies Outside Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Warren Magnusson, Department of Political Science (CSPT) Supervisor Dr. Rob Walker, Department of Political Science (CSPT) Departmental Member Dr. Michael Asch, Departments of Anthropology and Political Science (CSPT) Departmental Member Dr. Alan Drengson, School of Environmental Studies Outside Member Several scholars are now examining the emergence of ecology as a means for achieving tighter governmental regulations under the label of what they call green or eco- governmentality. Adopting Michel Foucault‘s historical ontology, one of their critiques consists in problematizing the notion of Nature at the core of environmental debates as a political construct modulated by the historical conditions in which it finds itself. One implication of this is that ―Nature‖ has no normative implications except the ones we collectively fantasize about. Such a critique is often perceived as a threat by many environmentalists who are struggling to develop a global and intercultural perspective on environmental destruction. This dissertation suggests that Foucault‘s critical project should be examined from a more thoroughly ecological standpoint, leading toward the adoption of a broader, less ethnocentric and anthropocentric ontology. It explores the possibility of rethinking the concept of Nature at the core of political ecology from the standpoint of a relational ontology rather than an historical ontology. It argues that a relational ontology offers a possible alternative to historical ontology by posing our relations to ―Nature‖ not through the metaphysic of will and temporality assumed by Foucault (by which he asserts a universal state of contingency and finitude to deploy his critical project), but through a holistic understanding of Nature in terms of inter-constitutive relations. By being relational instead of historical, a relational ontology contributes to the formulation of open-ended and dynamic worldviews that do not operate against the backdrop of a homogenizing form of temporal universalism or constructivism, but rather poses the immanent differences and processes of diversification we are experiencing as the unifying and harmonizing principle by which we can rethink a more thorough egalitarian and non-anthropocentric standpoint for ecological thinking. Such a differential—yet shared—understanding of Nature could facilitate the development of an intercultural and non anthropocentric perspective on environmental destruction. iv Table of Contents TITLE PAGE ....................................................................................................................................... i SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE ............................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................... viii EPIGRAPH ........................................................................................................................................ ix INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1 PART I NATURE, MODERNITY AND THE EMERGENCE OF ECO-GOVERNMENTALITY I. MANAGING THE ENVIRONMENT: NATURE AS A PROBLEM OF GOVERNMENT ................................ 9 1. Nature in Peril: Modernity, Globalization, Ecocide ......................................................... 10 2. The Environmental Movement: A Brief Overview .......................................................... 15 3. Environmentalism and Ecology: Toward a New Paradigm? ........................................... 20 4. ―Deep Green‖ Environmentalism ..................................................................................... 23 5. The Reforming Standpoint: Environmentalism as Deepening Modernity ....................... 31 6. Liberal Counterpoints ....................................................................................................... 35 7. Green Authoritarianism and Conservatism ...................................................................... 41 8. Green Beyond Borders: Toward an Eco-Cosmopolitanism. ............................................ 45 9. Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................................................. 48 II. GOVERNMENTALITY IN THE WORK OF MICHEL FOUCAULT ....................................................... 54 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 54 2. What is Governmentality? ................................................................................................ 58 v 3. From Microphysics of Power to the Problem of Government ......................................... 64 4. The Problem of Government: City-Citizen Games and Pastoral Power .......................... 72 5. From Pastorate of the Soul to Pastorate of Homo Economicus ........................................ 74 6. Liberalism as a Way of Governing ................................................................................... 81 7. Techniques of the Self in Liberal Episteme ...................................................................... 87 8. The Foucaultian Ethos of Freedom .................................................................................. 89 9. Discussion and Conclusion .............................................................................................. 94 III. GREEN GOVERNMENTALITY AND THE PROBLEM OF ONTOLOGY ............................................ 100 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 100 2. What is Green Governmentality? ................................................................................... 102 3. Green Governmentality, Resistance and the Problem of Ontology ............................... 109 4. Ontology as Political Problem ........................................................................................ 112 5. Ontology as an Idea: A Brief Overview ......................................................................... 115 6. Greek Ontology: Nature as Eternal ................................................................................ 116 7. The Medieval Pass: From Nature to God ....................................................................... 121 8. The Twilight of Scholastic Ontology ............................................................................. 130 9. Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................................................ 139 IV. POLITICIZING ONTOLOGY: BETWEEN PRACTICES AND HISTORY ............................................ 144 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 144 2. What Nature? .................................................................................................................. 145 3. Ontological Functionalism and Existentialism ............................................................... 151 4. Objections to Politicizing Ontology ............................................................................... 158 5. The Epistemological Defence ........................................................................................ 158 6. The Ontological Defence ................................................................................................ 162 7. Politicizing Ontology/Resisting Ontology ..................................................................... 165 8. Governmentalization as Neutralization of Politics ......................................................... 170 vi 9. Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................................................ 174 PART II NATURE AND THE ONTOLOGICAL QUESTION: A CRITIQUE OF HISTORICAL ONTOLOGY V. HISTORICAL ONTOLOGY, WILL AND THE QUESTION OF NATURE............................................