This paper explores the European integration process from a theoretical perspective following Foucault’s insights on power as governmentality. While feminists have used governmentality in analyzing other aspects of social and political structures, they have had so far less attention in the study of European integration. A governmentality approach investigates the ambivalent and power-laden processes of governing; governmentality scholars focus especially on political rationalities, discursive constructions of norms, knowledge, subject formations and other technologies of government such as expertise. The paper illustrates that once engendered, governmentality approaches can provide key insights on the construction of differing subject formations through discourses and other governmental technologies and describe the macro-political technologies going along with them. It also show how a governmentality approach resembles a constructivist approach on norms, or a discursive approach to policies, but how it differs with regards to the perception of how norms and policies are created and exerted. The paper takes the example of economic governance in the Eurozone to illustrate the potential of such a power and gender sensitive approach.
