Biological resources, knowledge and property

The chapter adopts a governmentality approach to analyse the current reciprocal constitution of biological resources, knowledge and property rights. The first section discusses the rationale of property-based regulation, connecting it with a prevailing economic understanding of biodiversity. The following section locates the expansion of property rights over biological nature within the neoliberal rationality of government. The subsequent section focuses on gene technologies regulation as the main locus where the reciprocal constitution of biology, technology and property unfolds. The penultimate section addresses the issue of resistance to the ‘neoliberalization of nature’. The conclusion suggests some lines for further reflection