The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979 (Michel Foucault, Lectures at the Collège de France)

Foucault continues on the theme of his 1978 course by focusing on the study of liberal and neo-liberal forms of government and concentrating in particular on two forms of neo-liberalism: German post-war liberalism and the liberalism of the Chicago School. Michel Foucault's lectures at the Coll̈ge de France in 1979, The Birth of Biopolitics, pursue and develop further the themes of his lectures from the previous year, Security, Territory, Population. Having shown how Eighteenth century political economy marks the birth of a new governmental rationality - seeking maximum effectiveness by governing less and in accordance with the naturalness of the phenomena to be governed - Michel Foucault undertakes the detailed analysis of the forms of this liberal governmentality. This involves describing the political rationality within which the specific problems of life and population were posed: "Studying liberalism as the general framework of biopolitics". What are the specific features of the liberal art of government as they were outlined in the Eighteenth century? What crisis of governmentality characterises the present world and what revisions of liberal government has it given rise to? This is the diagnostic task addressed by Foucault's study of the two major twentieth century schools of neo-liberalism: German ordo-liberalism and the neo-liberalism of the Chicago School. In the years he taught at the Coll̈ge de France, this was Michel Foucault's sole foray into the field of contemporary history. This course thus raises questions of political philosophy and social policy that are at the heart of current debates about the role and status of neo-liberalism in twentieth century politics. A remarkable feature of these lectures is their discussion of contemporary economic theory and practice, culminating in an analysis of the model of homo oeconomicus. Foucault's analysis also highlights the paradoxical role played by "society" in relation to government. "Society" is both that in the name of which government strives to limit itself, but it is also the target for permanent governmental intervention to produce, multiply, and guarantee the freedoms required by economic liberalism. Far from being opposed to the State, civil society is thus shown to be the correlate of a liberal technology of government "Michel Foucault's 1979 lectures at the College de France, The Birth of Biopolitics, pursue and develop further the themes of his lectures from the previous year, Security, Territory, Population. Having shown how eighteenth century political economy marks the birth of a new governmental reason, Foucault undertakes the detailed analysis of the forms of this liberal governmentality. This involves describing the political rationality within which the specific problems of life and population were posed: "Studying liberalism as the general framework of biopolitics."" "What are the specific features of the liberal art of government as they were outlined in the eighteenth century? What crisis of governmentality characterizes the present world and what revisions of liberal government has it given rise to? This is the diagnostic task addressed by Foucault's study of the two major twentieth century schools of neo-liberalism: German ordoliberalism and the neo-liberalism of the Chicago School. In the years he taught at the College de France, this was Michel Foucault's sole foray into the field of contemporary history. This course raises questions of political philosophy and social policy that are at the heart of current debates about the role and status of neo-liberalism in twentieth century politics. A remarkable feature of these lectures is their discussion of contemporary economic theory and practice, culminating in an analysis of the model of homo oeconomicus, or economic man." "Foucault's analysis also highlights the paradoxical role played by "society" in relation to government. "Society" is that in the name of which government strives to limit itself, but it is also the target for permanent governmental intervention to produce, multiply, and guarantee the freedoms required by economic liberalism. Far from being opposed to the State, civil society is thus shown to be the correlate of a liberal technology of government."--Jacket "Foucault's analysis also highlights the paradoxical role played by "society" in relation to government. "Society" is that in the name of which government strives to limit itself, but it is also the target for permanent governmental intervention to produce, multiply, and guarantee the freedoms required by economic liberalism. Far from being opposed to the State, civil society is thus shown to be the correlate of a liberal technology of government." --Résumé de l'éditeur Front Matter....Pages i-xvii 10 January 1979....Pages 1-25 17 January 1979....Pages 27-50 24 January 1979....Pages 51-73 31 January 1979....Pages 75-100 7 February 1979....Pages 101-128 14 February 1979....Pages 129-157 21 February 1979....Pages 159-184 7 March 1979....Pages 185-213 14 March 1979....Pages 215-237 21 March 1979....Pages 239-265 28 March 1979....Pages 267-289 4 April 1979....Pages 291-316 Back Matter....Pages 317-346