Foucault,Government and Acts of Obedience

Abstract

Conventional political writings influenced by Foucault emphasize how various kinds of coercive measures are hidden behind the veil of a justified government. Their investigations tell us what makes it possible for the sovereign to exercise power over its subjects, and how, subject as we are to such constraints, we may still evolve ways and means to ensure our political liberties. In their endorsement of Foucault, they, however, lean in favor of political liberalism and find common theoretical grounds with his rivals. Instead we use Foucault to examine the nature and character of governance in Europe since the late medieval period focusing on the relationship between the framing of sovereignty and the application of pastoral power. This takes us on a journey from Aquinas to the literature on ‘‘advice-to-prince’’ and finally Kant. The idea is to capture what their theoretical preoccupations with governance suggest when we read them with Foucault’s principles.