THE SHIFTING TERRITORY OF GOVERNMENT - SOME INSIGHTS FROM THE RURAL-WHITE-PAPER

In this paper it is proposed that the territory of governance is curre ntly being reconfigured by the state. The state is pulling back from a universalist, welfare role, which entailed comprehensive government o f the whole national territory. Now a much more selective form of gove rnment is coming into being, concerned with 'community', 'diversity' a nd 'locality'. This is not, however, simply a belated recognition by t he state that these are ever move important features of socio-spatial life: rather, it is part of the reconfiguration of the territory of go vernment as the state involves these characteristics in order to modif y its ways of governing. Using Foucault's concept of governmentality-t hat is the means used by the state to 'problematise' life within its t erritorial borders and their net on the basis of these problematisatio ns-the recent case of the Rural White Paper is examined. It is propose d that this is a very clear example of a governmental retreat from a c omprehensive role in the governance of rural areas and shows hero the state now seeks to govern 'through communities'.