Individualism

The term individualism refers to a strong ontological or moral trend in traditional political science that regards the individual as the constituting factor of social and political life. Ontological individualism sees society as being composed of individuals, whereas moral individualism argues that the assurance of individual rights is the highest of all goals. Seen from an individualist perspective, there is a strong tension between individualism and collectivism or collective rule. From an ontological perspective, collective rule is messy because it seeks to govern a group of atomistic individuals with different and conflicting agendas and desires. From a moral perspective, collective rule is problematic because it unavoidably reduces the autonomy—or freedom—of each individual.

Both ontological and normative individualism have played central roles in the development of the political systems known as liberal democracies. Liberal democracies have tried to establish a balance between individual autonomy and collective rule, partly by keeping the power of the state at bay, and partly by limiting the realm of collective rule. General elections and a separation of powers within the state apparatus have prevented the state from becoming too powerful vis-à-vis the individual, and the realm of collective rule has been restricted by making a sharp demarcation between a public sphere of collective rule and a private sphere of individual autonomy and self-government.

The emergence of the governance society has undermined the traditional institutions of representative democracy, including the mechanisms that were intended to maintain and ensure the balance between individualism and collectivism. First, general elections are reduced to one of several channels of influence, and the price is likely to be a reduction in the influence of some individuals in comparison with others. Second, increased networking within the state apparatus is likely to undermine the separation of powers. Third, the integration of private actors in the governing of society undermines the borderline between the realm of collective rule and the realm of individual autonomy.

Some governance theorists have begun to challenge the image produced by ontological and moral individualism that individualism and collective rule are opposites and must be balanced just as they speak against the belief that the strongholds of traditional institutions of liberal democracy were to establish such a balance. Governmentality theorists such as Nicolas Rose and Michel Dean have argued, for instance, that the perception of how to govern society in liberal democracies does not place individualism in opposition to collective rule. On the contrary, individualism is seen as a central means of governing. Liberal societies have largely been governed through the shaping of freedoms where individuals govern themselves within an autonomous space organized by the state. In other words, the state has governed through the framing of self-governance. A clear example of this framing is the legal regulation of the market and the family as two realms of self-governance.

Governance theorists argue that the emergence of the governance society should be seen as an increase in the effort to govern by means of self-governance. [Page 444]Hence, it has increasingly been recognized that self-governance should not necessarily be restricted to the private sector, but represents a promising means to improve the governing capacity of the public sector as well. Seen from this perspective, the governance society is the next step toward a society that governs itself through the shaping of spaces for individuality. Ontological and moral individualism serve primarily as legitimating narratives in the development of techniques of self-governance.

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