Neoliberalism - Governmentality or Hegemony?

This thesis deals with theoretical approaches to neoliberalism, with focus on their application in the case of Czech transition to democracy. Neoliberalism is a form of governance that seeks to extend market relations to the whole of society. Both theoretical approaches have common post-structuralist foundations, thanks to which they understand power as an ineradicable part of interhuman relations. The term governmentality comes from the work of Michel Foucault and helps us understand neoliberalism as a complex form of governance, which seeks to transform individual into neoliberal subject - ​homo oeconomicus​. Discoursive theory, presented by the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, is influenced by some of Foucault's concepts, but radicalizes discourse as such, and connects it with marxist notion of hegemony. Neoliberalism is then understood as a hegemonic project which seeks to contain discoursive totality. In the analytical section of the thesis neoliberal discourse is illustrated on public speeches of the two most prominent political figures of Czech politics of the 1990s, former prime minister Václav Klaus and former president Václav Havel. What is illustrated on these speeches is the emergence of Czech neoliberalism and also the advantages and limits of both theoretical approaches to..