Panoptic surveillance: The European Union's instruments and practices of social control

Michel Foucault explained the effects and practices of modern power on the individual and society by using the prison model, which British philosopher Jeremy Bentham called the "Panopticon," as a metaphor, and in this context he theorized the practices of disciplinary power (modern power) through the Panopticon. The Panopticon, which Foucault characterized as "Panoptism," "Panoptic Surveillance," or "Laboratory of Power," is a diagram of a power mechanism reduced to an ideal form and a description of the modern individual's relations with power in his or her everyday life. Modern power, as defined by Foucault in his theory of "Panoptic Surveillance", is disciplinary and controlling. According to him, the goal and purpose of modern power is not to establish relations of sovereignty, but to establish relations of discipline. On the other hand, Foucault, who exemplifies the relations, techniques, strategies and practices of modern power through the metaphor of the Panopticon, states that the techniques in the Panopticon are applied in all institutions that fall within the sphere of modern power and that modern power ensures social control through these techniques (deterrence, control, discipline, surveillance). In addition, the connection of Panoptic Surveillance theory with the European Union (EU) is mostly associated with the EU's social control instruments, data collection and monitoring practices. Also, the fact that the power/disciplining power within the EU establishes control and disciplines EU member states and partners through certain discourses, institutions, legal regulations and policies, and characterizes some identities and cultures outside the EU as "risk" or "threat" through certain discourses and practices, and exerts a kind of pressure on them, makes it necessary to evaluate the EU in the context of Panoptism/Panoptic Surveillance theory. In this context, this thesis analyzes the EU's instruments and practices of social control through Foucault's Panoptic Surveillance theory. The methodological dimension of the thesis, which was prepared with qualitative research management, consists of Foucault's critical discourse analysis technique and the coding technique (descriptive coding) of the MAXQDA program used for qualitative analysis of the data. The main aim here is to address the power/effect of the disciplinary power (modern power) within the EU on the EU member states and partners in the axis of Panoptic Surveillance theory, which is different from the classical power theories, and to reveal the instruments and practices of the disciplinary power within the EU that contain control, surveillance and discipline, and to analyze these instruments and practices. Key Words: Panopticon; Surveillance; European Union; Michel Foucault; Surveillance Studies