Tracing the Political: Depoliticisation, Governance and the State

Over the past few decades, governments in many nations have increasingly delegated political decisions to expert agencies, portraying the issues they deal with—such as drug policy or monetary policy—as technocratic or managerial in nature. This has had the effect of essentially removing a large number of important political decisions from public debate—a situation that has led many commentators to worry about a “crisis of democracy,” or, even worse, the “end of politics.” This book offers a nuanced perspective on that situation, charting the dynamics of politicization and depoliticization that shape debates about governance, participation, and the liberal democratic state.