Foucault and the Modern International: Silences and Legacies for the Study of World Politics (The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy)

This book addresses the possibilities of analyzing the modern international through the thought of Michel Foucault. The broad range of authors brought together in this volume question four of the most self-evident characteristics of our contemporary world-'international', 'neoliberal', 'biopolitical' and 'global'- and thus fill significant gaps in both international and Foucault studies. The chapters discuss what a Foucauldian perspective does or does not offer for understanding international phenomena while also questioning many appropriations of Foucault's work. This transdisciplinary volume will serve as a reference for both scholars and students of international relations, international political sociology, international political economy, political theory/philosophy and critical theory more generally. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Introduction: The International as an Object for Thought....Pages 1-12 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 The Figure of Foucault and the Field of International Relations....Pages 15-31 Michel Foucault and International Relations: Cannibal Relations....Pages 33-55 The Microphysics of Power Redux....Pages 57-75 Front Matter....Pages 77-77 Political Spirituality: Parrhesia, Truth and Factical Finitude....Pages 79-96 Power as Sumbolon: Sovereignty, Governmentality and the International....Pages 97-114 Foucault and Method....Pages 115-134 Front Matter....Pages 135-135 Silencing Colonialism: Foucault and the International....Pages 137-153 Violence and the Modern International: An Archaeology of Terrorism....Pages 155-173 Foucault and the Historical Sociology of Globalization....Pages 175-188 Front Matter....Pages 189-189 On Liberalism: Limits, the Market and the Subject....Pages 191-201 On Bureaucratic Formalization: The Reality-Like Fiction of Neoliberal Abstractions....Pages 203-218 Too-Late Liberalism: From Promised Prosperity to Permanent Austerity....Pages 219-235 Front Matter....Pages 237-237 Biopolitics in the Twenty-First Century: The Malthus–Marx Debate and the Human Capital Issue....Pages 239-259 Mesopolitics: Foucault, Environmental Governmentality and the History of the Anthropocene....Pages 261-273 Front Matter....Pages 275-275 The Word and the Things: An Archaeology of an Amnesic Notion....Pages 277-294 Foucault and Geometrics....Pages 295-311 Conclusion: Which Foucault? Which International?....Pages 313-339 Back Matter....Pages 341-376 This book addresses the possibilities of analyzing the modern international through the thought of Michel Foucault. The contributors question four of the most self-evident characteristics of our contemporary world-'international,' '(neo)liberal,' 'biopolitical' and 'global'-and thus fill significant gaps in both international and Foucault studies. The chapters discuss what a Foucauldian perspective does or does not offer for understanding international phenomena while also questioning many appropriations of Foucault's work. This transdisciplinary volume will serve as a reference for scholars and students of international relations, international political sociology, international political economy, political theory/philosophy and critical theory more generally. Philippe Bonditti is Assistant Professor at the European School of Political and Social Science (ESPOL-UCL), France. Didier Bigo is Associate Professor at Sciences Po Paris, France, and Professor of International Relations at Kings College London, UK. Frédéric Gros is Professor of Philosophy at Sciences Po Paris, France.