Leading without governing in the Knowledge Society. Despotism illustrated in the discourse of European techno-corporatism

Abstract

Over the last few decades, the process of governing in the EU has come to mean a whole series of activities conducted by social, political and administrative actors, which guide, direct, control and administrate society (Hix 1998). The relationship between these actors in the governmental process is not hierarchical, but polycentric and mutually dependent (Jachtenfuchs 1997). Therefore, the techno-corporatism alliance (Fischer 1990) is formed by an epistemic community along with the industrial and financial lobbies. It organizes society around its own projection of a differential unit, thereby affirming its position of leadership and power. A differential unit, which in an ideologically broader definition, expresses itself and inevitably takes place throughout and within this language. Firstly, this implies thinking of the techno-corporative discourse not in its apparent ethereal nature, but as a social practice of the legitimation of a mediated political direction that has intervened in the conception, construction, and approval of public policies over these last few decades. Even though this discourse contributes to the delineation of a certain social form, this does not suggest that it cannot contrast with it, or even exceed it because this form itself is contradictory (Rossi-Landi 2005, 21). Secondly, the longitudinal analysis (2000-2010) of the techno-corporative discourse allows us to relate and articulate different discourses (critical, subordinated, and dissident discourses), which have affected the programs and projects of the European Governance in the direction of society, thereby constructing a hegemonic vision in order to obtain general consent.