POPULATION, GOVERNANCE AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY: REVIEW AND PROSPECT OF BIOPOLITICS IN CHINA

doi:10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2019.01.007

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HUMAN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2019, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (1) : 46-53,105. DOI: 10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2019.01.007

POPULATION, GOVERNANCE AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY: REVIEW AND PROSPECT OF BIOPOLITICS IN CHINA

ZHANG Li-ping^1,2, WANG Feng-long^3,4, LIU Yun-gang²

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Abstract

Biopolitics, first invented by Micheal Foucault in the 1970s, is used to explain the power relationship between government and population. Due to its innovative interpretation of power mechanism involved in governance of individuals, groups and population, the theory of biopolitics has pushed forward the discussion of biopower in many disciplines, and even brought about "bio-turn" in western academia. However, in China, biopolitics hasn't been much discussed and applied. After introducing the notion of biopolitics, devised by Foucault and later developed by Agamben, Hardt and Negri, this paper introduces three key mechanism constituting the power over population, including:the power to truth, governmental techniques, and subjectification. Following Hannah (2010), three explanatory strands and analytical perspectives of biopolitics are proposed, which are based on the notion of "the care of life", human resources in global capitalism, and racism and violence. In the end, the paper concluded with potential political geographic topics, which might be particularly productive through the lens of biopolitics in China's context.

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biopolitics / population / governance / political geography

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ZHANG Li-ping, WANG Feng-long, LIU Yun-gang. POPULATION, GOVERNANCE AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY: REVIEW AND PROSPECT OF BIOPOLITICS IN CHINA[J]. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. 2019, 34(1): 46-53,105 https://doi.org/10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2019.01.007

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