ABSTRACT
Legal measures and legal techniques are becoming the pillars of an emerging governmental structure that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of the political sphere and, at least in some cases, escapes the reach of “legitimate” political authority. The employment of a determinate legal language and the subsequent tendency towards a political lexicon characterized by a classificatory mark are integrated into dynamics that are distinctive and typical of each of them. To pin them down, it is of help to see how different types of policies translate into particular forms of governing. Direct governance is a form of governing mostly based on a clear relationship between the state and social actors, and mainly organized around the straight imposition of authority by the former on the latter. The state exercises its power by setting out rules that channel and restrict people’s discretion. Opportunity-oriented policies fit the model of direct government.
