Governing Animals, Governing Humans Animal Protection Politics and the Government of Human—Animal Relations in European and Global Politics

by Renner, Judith

• ISBN13: 9780198966685
• ISBN10: 0198966687
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780198966661
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2026-03-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Governing Animals, Governing Humans explores how the global politics of animal protection works as the government of human-animal relations. Responding to recent calls by scholars coming from post-humanist, new materialist, or post-anthropocentric backgrounds who criticize the discipline's human-centred outlook it suggests a way how animals can be analyzed as targets of government by bringing into conversation Foucauldian scholarship within IR, political science and Critical Animal Studies (CAS).

Empirically, the book is driven by an interest to understand and theorize two contradicting global tendencies in regard to how humans relate to animals: on the one hand, a growing global concern for animals which has led to animal protection and animal welfare turning into issues of international relevance. On the other hand, the growing use and exploitation of animals as means of human convenience which manifests in the increase of the global trade in animal products, in the numbers of animals used worldwide and in the conditions under which these animals are kept. The book argues that whereas these tendencies seem to be conflicting on the first view, they are in fact closely intertwined as animal welfare, which has emerged as the dominant strategy of global animal protection, establishes the intensive production and use of animals along animal welfare standards as the primary practice of animal protection, coopts animals and humans into this strategy as subjects of animal welfare and animal consumption and thus governs human-animal relations along the seemingly contradicting but intertwined tendencies of animal protection and animal use.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Voices in International Relations, published under the auspices of the European International Studies Association (EISA), furthers the development of research at the frontiers of International Relations (IR). It expands the remit of the field by including innovative scholarship that broadens key debates in the discipline, but it is more interested in reconfiguring such debates by approaching them from inside and outside the conventional core. Thematically, we aim to publish research that pushes the limits of IR conventionally defined from within and connects it to debates developing outside the discipline. We are committed to furthering diversity and inclusion in terms of authorship, location, topics and approaches from both inside and outside Europe. We have an inclusive approach to neighbouring disciplines, be it sociology, history, anthropology, geography, economics, political theory or law.

Series editors: Debbie Lisle, Tanja Aalberts, Anna Leander, and Laura Sjoberg.

Author Biography

Judith Renner, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Potsdam

Judith Renner is Senior Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations (IR) at the University of Potsdam. Before coming to Potsdam, she held positions as a Lecturer and Researcher at the Technical University of Munich and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich where she received a Dr. phil. in Political Science in 2011. Her current research focusses on questions of (global) human-animal relations and their possible integration in IR research. Before, she has worked on human rights, transitional justice, memory politics, and global norms. Her theoretical focus is on poststructuralist approaches to politics and IR.

Table of Contents

IntroductionPart I. An Archaeology and Genealogy of Animal Protection: Emergence of Anti-cruelty and Animal Welfare in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Great BritainIntroduction to Part I: History and Archaeology of Human-Animal Relations1. Emergence of Anti-cruelty as the First Strategy of Animal Protection2. Emergence of Animal Welfare as a Critical Response to Anti-crueltyConclusion to Part I: Anti-cruelty, Animal Welfare, and Power: The Historical Transition from Sovereignty to Discipline and Biopower in Human-Animal RelationsPart II. An Analytic of Government and Power: EU Animal Protection Politics and the Neoliberal Government of Human-Animal RelationsIntroduction to Part II: EU Animal Protection Politics and Neoliberal Government3. EU Animal Welfare Politics as Economic Policy: Producing Intensive Animal Production as the Prime Technology of Animal Protection4. EU Animal Welfare Politics as Social Policy: Shaping Animals and Humans as Subjects of Animal Welfare and the Market5. EU External Animal Welfare Politics as Spatial Policy: Building a Global Market Space for Animals and Animal ProductsConclusion to Part II: Animal Welfare and the Neoliberal Government of Humans and AnimalsConclusion