Liberalism and liberal government: why are numbers and measurement so important to the practices of liberal government?

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Liberalism and liberal government

Word count may be no more than 400 words either side of this target length).

  1. Why are numbers and measurement so important to the practices of liberal government?
  2. What role have economists and economics played in delineating the spheres of ‘the market’ and ‘the economy’?
  3. What is the significance of the Panopticon and ‘panopticism’ to Foucault’s understanding of discipline?
  4. In what sense can power be thought of as ‘productive’, as opposed to ‘repressive’?
  5. Why have neoliberals placed so much value upon entrepreneurship?
  6. What are the implications of viewing politics via the perspective on ‘population’?
  7. Why are the ‘psych’ sciences (psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis) so important for the governing of liberal societies?
  8. How does the rise of ‘real-time’, digital data transform liberal government?
  9. How does the distinction between ‘sovereignty’ and ‘government’ help us understand politics and power today?
  10. What did Foucault mean by ‘governmentality’?
  11. What role has the measurement of pleasure and/or happiness played in the history of liberal government?