Foucault and Power: The Influence of Political Engagement on Theories of Power

by Marcelo Hoffman

Michel Foucault is one of the most preeminent theorists of power, yet the relationship between his militant activities and his analysis of power remains unclear. The book explores this relationship to explain the development of Foucault's thinking about power.

Using newly translated and unpublished materials, it examines what led Foucault to take on the question of power in the early 1970s and subsequently refine his thinking, working through different models (war and government) and modalities (disciplinary, biopolitical and governmental). Looking at Foucault's political trajectory, from his immersion in the prisoner support movement to his engagements with the Iranian revolution and Solidarity in Poland, the book shows the militant underpinning of his interest in the question of power and its various shifts and mutations.

This thorough account, which includes the first translation of a report edited by Foucault on prison conditions, will provide students in contemporary political theory with a better understanding of Foucault's thinking about power and of the interplay between political activities and theoretical productions.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2013

Reviews

[Lukáš · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is certainly among the best books on Foucault out within the last 5 years. The book reads through Foucault's political activism, especially his engagement in the Group on prisons (GIP), his reporting on the Iran revolution, and the activities in support of the Solidarity movement in Poland (among other examples, including his activism vis-á-vis the United Nations in Geneva or his work with the Socialist Party on the abolition of death penalty and against political imprisonment)are explored alongside his work on power to show the exact opposite of what Foucault is often pictured to be (a hopeless cynic relativist), instead, we are given arguments in support of the thesis that from the start, Foucault has been politically committed and had no doubts about his militancy. This is accompanied by a careful philosophical dissection of the development of the concept of power, especially in a relationship to politics, war, and truth-telling, as well as the interest in crafting a post-biopolitical (or post-power) subject. (EDIT: Now it's available in paperback.) Obviously, for its worth and importance, the publisher put out only an expensive hardback for libraries, as is the case with other crucial books around post-structuralist theory (luckily for me I was able to get a half-price discount). The book also contains an appendix with a 1972 report based on questionnaires distributed in prisons that shows the tone of the political engagement, as well as a number of reasons why to resist.