Thomas Biebricher
Biographic Data
| ID | 290903 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas Biebricher |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas |
| FAMILY NAME | Biebricher |
| SIGNATURE | BIEBRICHER T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Goethe University Frankfurt |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8827-5142 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 125 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Governing the Subject of Populism
This article examines the phenomenon of populism by drawing on the analytical resources of the governmentality perspective. The starting point is a discussion of the reasons for the relative absence of populism in the agenda of Governmentality Studies. In the following, the article turns to rationalities and technologies of governing that might be associated with populism and focuses on two of the latter, namely referendums and “contracts with th…
Konservatismus in der Krise
The revolution will not be theorized: Neoliberal thought and the problem of transition
Neoliberalism is a notoriously contested term, and even among those who principally subscribe to it, which is mostly its critics, fierce debates persist over its nature, how to study it properly—and whether it is still the appropriate conceptual armament to understand the contemporary world and an arguably emerging "post-neoliberalism" (Davies & Gane, 2021). Not only is it controversial how neoliberalism should be defined—a governing rationality …
Ordoliberalism and Conservatism
Despite its undeniable liberal core, Ordoliberalism is deeply influenced by conservative thought, as it developed specifically in the German tradition. This chapter explores themes and motives that Ordoliberalism draws from or shares with (German) conservatism, These themes range from the crucial significance attributed to matters of culture and religion to the quest for a normative foundation inherent in ‘the natural’—or rather the naturalised. …
The Oxford Handbook of Ordoliberalism
Since the financial crisis of 2008, Ordoliberalism emerged from relative obscurity to become one of the crucial terms of analysis across a wide range of academic literatures and public discussion. In fact, it became the main reference for a number of issues, including assessments of the attempted resolution of the Eurozone crisis, arguments about German hegemony in Europe, debates over the future of economic liberalism and controversies about aut…
Oxford Handbook of Ordoliberalism
Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism: Martin Beddeleem in Conversation with Thomas Biebricher
Martin Beddeleem, member of the Global Perspectives Emerging Scholars Forum, talk about Thomas Biebricher’s book on the political theory of neoliberalism as well as Biebricher’s article in Global Perspectives, teasing out links between neoliberal thought and forms of authoritarianism
Narrative sozioökonomischer Ungleichheit zwischen Neoliberalismus und Neokonservatismus
Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism
In the larger public debate, it is often suggested that neoliberalism has been swept aside by an upsurge of what are commonly referred to as right-wing populist movements, parties, and figures but are, in fact, authoritarian ones. It is the more or less explicit assumption of this narrative—namely, that there is a conflictual and dichotomous relationship between neoliberalism and authoritarianism—which is the focal point of the critical inquiry c…
Response to Wendy Brown’s Review of The Political Theory of Neoliberalism
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Political Theory of Neoliberalism
Birth of Austerity: German Ordoliberalism and Contemporary Neoliberalism
Ordoliberalism and the ‘Freiburg School’ have gained traction in contemporary political economy in response to two factors: a rising interest in governmentality studies and the banking, financial and sovereign debt crisis in Europe. In the face of these crises, Germany has assumed a position of quasi-hegemony in the European Union, making decisions about bailouts, the politics of crisis management and the rise of austerity. This volume gathers to…
Disciplining Europe – The Production of Economic Delinquency
The main goal of the following article is to offer a Foucaultian reading of the economic governance structure of the European Union after the reforms passed and implemented over the last six years. The starting point is a reconstruction of Foucault’s analytical framework to scrutinize disciplinary power as well as the respective apparatuses and how this framework has been integrated into the more encompassing governmentality perspective. In the s…
Der Staat des Neoliberalismus
Neoliberalism and Democracy
Sovereignty, Norms, and Exception in Neoliberalism
Research Article| June 01 2014 Sovereignty, Norms, and Exception in Neoliberalism Thomas Biebricher Thomas Biebricher Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Qui Parle (2014) 23 (1): 77–107. https://doi.org/10.5250/quiparle.23.1.0077 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Thomas Biebricher; Sovereignty, Norms, and Exception in Neoliberalism. Qui Parle 1 June 2014; 23 (1): 77–107. doi: https://d…
Power in neoliberal thought
The paper examines how questions of power are addressed in neoliberal thought. The thesis underlying this endeavor is the following: all varieties of neoliberal thought harbor a blind spot regarding various forms of power. This means that certain power effects are overlooked or systematically brushed aside by definitional fiat. The paper aims to validate this thesis by discussing two leading proponents of neoliberal thought whose respective appro…
Critical Theories of the State: Governmentality and the Strategic‐Relational Approach
Ding und Verdinglichung: Technik- und Sozialphilosophie nach Heidegger und der Kritischen Theorie
Foucault and the politics of rights☆
The article aims to offer an assessment of the complex position of Michel Foucault on the political significance of rights-claiming, i.e. the politics of rights. Although the theorist Foucault has reservations regarding rights-claiming and only vaguely gestures at a ‘new form of right’ the intellectual Foucault resorts to the practice of rights-claiming on many occasions. The article argues that in these interventions by the intellectual Foucault…
Revisiting Johan Galtung's Concept of Structural Violence
Revisiting Johan Galtung’s Concept of Structural Violence
This symposium is organized around a common concern: if we, as political scientists, limit ourselves to an analytics of violence that points solely to agents and intentions, we are sure to miss the
What's Wrong with Neoliberalism
With economic theory front and center in current debates over the role of government, neoliberalism remains the concept with the most diagnostic potency for describing our contemporary political-ec
The Biopolitics of Ordoliberalism
This article examines the biopolitical dimension in ordoliberal thought using Wilhelm Röpke and Alexander Rüstow as exemplary figures of this tradition. Based on an explication of various biopolitical themes that can be extracted from Foucault’s writings and lectures the article argues that these biopolitical themes, although rarely touched on in Foucault’s lectures on ordoliberal governmentality, nevertheless constitute an integral aspect of the…
The practices of theorists: Habermas and Foucault as public intellectuals
The scholarly works of Jürgen Habermas and Michel Foucault have been subject to ongoing scrutiny for a number of decades. However, less attention has been given to their activities as public intellectuals and the relation between these and their philosophical and theoretical projects. Drawing on their own conceptualization of the role of the intellectual, the article aims to illuminate these issues by examining Habermas’ advocacy of a ‘Core Europ…
Neoliberalism and Democracy
Revisiting Johan Galtung’s Concept of Structural Violence
This symposium is organized around a common concern: if we, as political scientists, limit ourselves to an analytics of violence that points solely to agents and intentions, we are sure to miss the
Genealogy and Governmentality
The essay aims at an assessment of whether and to what extent the history of governmentality can be considered to be a genealogy. To this effect a generic account of core tenets of Foucauldian genealogy is developed. The three core tenets highlighted are (1) a radically contingent view of history that is (2) expressed in a distinct style and (3) highlights the impact of power on this history. After a brief discussion of the concept of governmenta…
Revisiting Johan Galtung's Concept of Structural Violence
Faith-based initiatives and pastoral power
The paper offers a critical analysis of the ‘Faith-Based and Community Initiatives’ established by the Bush administration in 2001 and expanded under the Obama administration. After situating the programme in the context of the welfare reform of 1996 and the ‘new paternalism’ (Lawrence Mead) built into it, the paper proceeds to introduce and discuss Michel Foucault's concept of ‘pastoral power’ as it is developed in his lectures on the history of…
What's Wrong with Neoliberalism
With economic theory front and center in current debates over the role of government, neoliberalism remains the concept with the most diagnostic potency for describing our contemporary political-ec
Habermas and Foucault: Deliberative Democracy and Strategic State Analysis
(Ir-)Responsibilization, genetics and neuroscience
The concept of responsibilization that originally emerged out of the context of the so-called Governmentality Studies is now widely used in various social sciences to describe a governing technology particularly attuned to the challenge of neoliberalism, i.e. how to govern free individuals. However, in seemingly paradoxical simultaneity with the hegemeony of neoliberalism that relies heavily on individual choice, freedom and responsibility, two p…
The Biopolitics of Ordoliberalism
This article examines the biopolitical dimension in ordoliberal thought using Wilhelm Röpke and Alexander Rüstow as exemplary figures of this tradition. Based on an explication of various biopolitical themes that can be extracted from Foucault’s writings and lectures the article argues that these biopolitical themes, although rarely touched on in Foucault’s lectures on ordoliberal governmentality, nevertheless constitute an integral aspect of the…
The practices of theorists: Habermas and Foucault as public intellectuals
The scholarly works of Jürgen Habermas and Michel Foucault have been subject to ongoing scrutiny for a number of decades. However, less attention has been given to their activities as public intellectuals and the relation between these and their philosophical and theoretical projects. Drawing on their own conceptualization of the role of the intellectual, the article aims to illuminate these issues by examining Habermas’ advocacy of a ‘Core Europ…
Habermas, Foucault and Nietzsche: A Double Misunderstanding
The article analyses Habermas' interpretation of Foucault in the Philosophical Discourse of Modernity and argues that the former misunderstands the Foucaultian project of genealogy fundamentally. While Habermas assumes that Foucault aims at a strictly scientific approach to the writing of history it can be shown that Foucaultian genealogy is strongly characterised by rhetorical aspects, creating a hybrid model of critique that stands in between s…
Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism
In the larger public debate, it is often suggested that neoliberalism has been swept aside by an upsurge of what are commonly referred to as right-wing populist movements, parties, and figures but are, in fact, authoritarian ones. It is the more or less explicit assumption of this narrative—namely, that there is a conflictual and dichotomous relationship between neoliberalism and authoritarianism—which is the focal point of the critical inquiry c…
Disciplining Europe – The Production of Economic Delinquency
The main goal of the following article is to offer a Foucaultian reading of the economic governance structure of the European Union after the reforms passed and implemented over the last six years. The starting point is a reconstruction of Foucault’s analytical framework to scrutinize disciplinary power as well as the respective apparatuses and how this framework has been integrated into the more encompassing governmentality perspective. In the s…
Critical Theories of the State: Governmentality and the Strategic‐Relational Approach
Faith‐based Initiatives and the Challenges of Governance
The task of this paper is to offer an analysis of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative (FBCI) established by George W. Bush and continued under the Obama administration based on a critical and decentred approach to governance (networks). The paper starts out by placing FBCI in the context of the welfare reform of 1996 arguing that both share certain basic assumptions, for example, regarding the nature of poverty, and that FBCI can be interpre…
The revolution will not be theorized: Neoliberal thought and the problem of transition
Neoliberalism is a notoriously contested term, and even among those who principally subscribe to it, which is mostly its critics, fierce debates persist over its nature, how to study it properly—and whether it is still the appropriate conceptual armament to understand the contemporary world and an arguably emerging "post-neoliberalism" (Davies & Gane, 2021). Not only is it controversial how neoliberalism should be defined—a governing rationality …
Power in neoliberal thought
The paper examines how questions of power are addressed in neoliberal thought. The thesis underlying this endeavor is the following: all varieties of neoliberal thought harbor a blind spot regarding various forms of power. This means that certain power effects are overlooked or systematically brushed aside by definitional fiat. The paper aims to validate this thesis by discussing two leading proponents of neoliberal thought whose respective appro…
Selbstkritik der Moderne: Foucault und Habermas im Vergleich
Habermas, Foucault and Nietzsche: A Double Misunderstanding
The article analyses Habermas' interpretation of Foucault in the Philosophical Discourse of Modernity and argues that the former misunderstands the Foucaultian project of genealogy fundamentally. While Habermas assumes that Foucault aims at a strictly scientific approach to the writing of history it can be shown that Foucaultian genealogy is strongly characterised by rhetorical aspects, creating a hybrid model of critique that stands in between s…
Habermas and Foucault: Deliberative Democracy and Strategic State Analysis
Critical Resistance: From Poststructuralism to Post‐Critique ‐ by David Couzens Hoy
Genealogy and Governmentality
The essay aims at an assessment of whether and to what extent the history of governmentality can be considered to be a genealogy. To this effect a generic account of core tenets of Foucauldian genealogy is developed. The three core tenets highlighted are (1) a radically contingent view of history that is (2) expressed in a distinct style and (3) highlights the impact of power on this history. After a brief discussion of the concept of governmenta…
The Biopolitics of Ordoliberalism
This article examines the biopolitical dimension in ordoliberal thought using Wilhelm Röpke and Alexander Rüstow as exemplary figures of this tradition. Based on an explication of various biopolitical themes that can be extracted from Foucault’s writings and lectures the article argues that these biopolitical themes, although rarely touched on in Foucault’s lectures on ordoliberal governmentality, nevertheless constitute an integral aspect of the…
The practices of theorists: Habermas and Foucault as public intellectuals
The scholarly works of Jürgen Habermas and Michel Foucault have been subject to ongoing scrutiny for a number of decades. However, less attention has been given to their activities as public intellectuals and the relation between these and their philosophical and theoretical projects. Drawing on their own conceptualization of the role of the intellectual, the article aims to illuminate these issues by examining Habermas’ advocacy of a ‘Core Europ…
Faith‐based Initiatives and the Challenges of Governance
The task of this paper is to offer an analysis of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative (FBCI) established by George W. Bush and continued under the Obama administration based on a critical and decentred approach to governance (networks). The paper starts out by placing FBCI in the context of the welfare reform of 1996 arguing that both share certain basic assumptions, for example, regarding the nature of poverty, and that FBCI can be interpre…
(Ir-)Responsibilization, genetics and neuroscience
The concept of responsibilization that originally emerged out of the context of the so-called Governmentality Studies is now widely used in various social sciences to describe a governing technology particularly attuned to the challenge of neoliberalism, i.e. how to govern free individuals. However, in seemingly paradoxical simultaneity with the hegemeony of neoliberalism that relies heavily on individual choice, freedom and responsibility, two p…
Faith-based initiatives and pastoral power
The paper offers a critical analysis of the ‘Faith-Based and Community Initiatives’ established by the Bush administration in 2001 and expanded under the Obama administration. After situating the programme in the context of the welfare reform of 1996 and the ‘new paternalism’ (Lawrence Mead) built into it, the paper proceeds to introduce and discuss Michel Foucault's concept of ‘pastoral power’ as it is developed in his lectures on the history of…
Ding und Verdinglichung: Technik- und Sozialphilosophie nach Heidegger und der Kritischen Theorie
Foucault and the politics of rights☆
The article aims to offer an assessment of the complex position of Michel Foucault on the political significance of rights-claiming, i.e. the politics of rights. Although the theorist Foucault has reservations regarding rights-claiming and only vaguely gestures at a ‘new form of right’ the intellectual Foucault resorts to the practice of rights-claiming on many occasions. The article argues that in these interventions by the intellectual Foucault…
Revisiting Johan Galtung's Concept of Structural Violence
Revisiting Johan Galtung’s Concept of Structural Violence
This symposium is organized around a common concern: if we, as political scientists, limit ourselves to an analytics of violence that points solely to agents and intentions, we are sure to miss the
What's Wrong with Neoliberalism
With economic theory front and center in current debates over the role of government, neoliberalism remains the concept with the most diagnostic potency for describing our contemporary political-ec
Critical Theories of the State: Governmentality and the Strategic‐Relational Approach
Sovereignty, Norms, and Exception in Neoliberalism
Research Article| June 01 2014 Sovereignty, Norms, and Exception in Neoliberalism Thomas Biebricher Thomas Biebricher Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Qui Parle (2014) 23 (1): 77–107. https://doi.org/10.5250/quiparle.23.1.0077 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Thomas Biebricher; Sovereignty, Norms, and Exception in Neoliberalism. Qui Parle 1 June 2014; 23 (1): 77–107. doi: https://d…
Power in neoliberal thought
The paper examines how questions of power are addressed in neoliberal thought. The thesis underlying this endeavor is the following: all varieties of neoliberal thought harbor a blind spot regarding various forms of power. This means that certain power effects are overlooked or systematically brushed aside by definitional fiat. The paper aims to validate this thesis by discussing two leading proponents of neoliberal thought whose respective appro…
Neoliberalism and Democracy
Der Staat des Neoliberalismus
Birth of Austerity: German Ordoliberalism and Contemporary Neoliberalism
Ordoliberalism and the ‘Freiburg School’ have gained traction in contemporary political economy in response to two factors: a rising interest in governmentality studies and the banking, financial and sovereign debt crisis in Europe. In the face of these crises, Germany has assumed a position of quasi-hegemony in the European Union, making decisions about bailouts, the politics of crisis management and the rise of austerity. This volume gathers to…
Disciplining Europe – The Production of Economic Delinquency
The main goal of the following article is to offer a Foucaultian reading of the economic governance structure of the European Union after the reforms passed and implemented over the last six years. The starting point is a reconstruction of Foucault’s analytical framework to scrutinize disciplinary power as well as the respective apparatuses and how this framework has been integrated into the more encompassing governmentality perspective. In the s…
Political Theory of Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism
In the larger public debate, it is often suggested that neoliberalism has been swept aside by an upsurge of what are commonly referred to as right-wing populist movements, parties, and figures but are, in fact, authoritarian ones. It is the more or less explicit assumption of this narrative—namely, that there is a conflictual and dichotomous relationship between neoliberalism and authoritarianism—which is the focal point of the critical inquiry c…
Response to Wendy Brown’s Review of The Political Theory of Neoliberalism
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Political science (24 works) · Sociology (22 works) · Law (21 works) · Politics (20 works) · Law (18 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Epistemology (12 works) · Foucault, Power, and Ethics (10 works) · Governmentality (8 works)