On the Ways of Writing the History of the State
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v1i28.6074Abstract
Foucault’s governmentality lectures at the Collège de France analyze the history of the state through the lens of governmental reason. However, these lectures largely omit consideration of the relationship between discipline and the state, prioritizing instead raison d’État and liberalism as dominant state technologies. To remedy this omission, I turn to Foucault’s early studies of discipline and argue that they provide materials for the reconstruction of a genealogy of the “disciplinary state.” In reconstructing this genealogy, I demonstrate that the disciplinary state marks the “dark side” of the liberal state, a dark side which is, more-over, largely obscured in the governmentality lectures. I further construe the difference be-tween this early genealogy of the state and the later governmental studies in methodologi-cal terms. At stake in this difference is the historiographic status of capitalism and social conflict. Foucault’s governmentality lectures employ what I term an “idealist disavowal,” thereby treating capitalism and social conflict as irrelevant to the history of the state. The early disciplinary studies, on the other hand, enact a “materialist avowal,” by which these objects are avowed as central to the explanation of how and why the state develops. Final-ly, I argue that Foucault’s governmental genealogy of the liberal state is explanatorily and analytically incomplete, while the genealogy of the disciplinary state contributes to its completion on both fronts.
References
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Debard, Mireille, and Jean-Luc Hennig, Les Juges kaki. Paris: Alain Moreau, 1977.
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Flynn, Thomas R., Sartre, Foucault, and Historical Reason: A Poststructuralist Mapping of Histo-ry. Vol. 2. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Foucault, Michel, “Clarifications on the Question of Power” [1978], in Foucault Live (Inter-views, 1961-1984), ed. Sylvère Lotringer, 255-263. New York: Semiotext(e), 1996.
Foucault, Michel, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison [1975]. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.
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Foucault, Michel, “On Popular Justice: A Discussion with Maoists” [1972], in Pow-er/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972-1977, ed. Colin Gordon, 1-36. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.
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Foucault, Michel, Penal Theories and Institutions: Lectures at the Collège de France 1971-1972 [2019]. Ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, François Ewald, and Alessandro Fontana. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Foucault, Michel, “Pouvoirs et émancipations. Entretien inédit entre Michel Foucault et quatre militants de la LCR, membres de la rubrique culturelle du journal Quotidien Rouge (Juillet 1977),” Revue Du MAUSS 38:2 (2011), 33–50. https://doi.org/10.3917/rdm.038.0033
Foucault, Michel, “Préface” [1977], in Dits et écrits: 1954-1988, vol. III: 1976-1979, ed. Dan-iel Defert and François Ewald, 138-140. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, “Questions of Method” [1980], in Power (Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Volume Three), ed. James D. Faubion, 223-238. New York: The New Press, 2000.
Foucault, Michel, “Return to History” [1972], in Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology (Essen-tial Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Volume Two), ed. James D. Faubion, 419-432. New York: The New Press, 1998.
Foucault, Michel, Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977-1978 [2004]. Ed. Michel Senellart, François Ewald, and Alessandro Fontana. New York: Pica-dor, 2007.
Foucault, Michel, “Society Must Be Defended”: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976 [1997]. Ed. Mauro Bertani and Alessandro Fontana. New York: Picador, 2003.
Foucault, Michel, The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language [1969]. New York: Vintage Books, 2010.
Foucault, Michel, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979 [2004]. Ed. Michel Senellart, François Ewald, Alessandro Fontana, and Arnold I. Davidson. New York: Picador, 2008.
Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality: Volume 1: An Introduction [1976]. New York: Vin-tage Books, 1978.
Foucault, Michel, The Punitive Society: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1972-1973 [2013]. Ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, François Ewald, and Alessandro Fontana. New York: Picador, 2015.
Foucault, Michel, “Truth and Juridical Forms” [1994], in Power (Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Volume Three), ed. James D. Faubion, 1-89. New York: The New Press, 2000.
Foucault, Michel, “Truth and Power” [1977], in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, ed. Colin Gordon, 109-133. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.
Gordon, Colin, “Governmental Rationality: An Introduction,” in The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality with Two Lectures by and an Interview with Michel Foucault, ed. Graham Burchell, Colin Gordon, and Peter Miller, 1-51. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Harcourt, Bernard E., “Course Context,” in The Punitive Society: Lectures at the Collège de France 1972-1973 [2019], ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, François Ewald, and Alessandro Fon-tana, 241-278. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Jessop, Bob, “Constituting Another Foucault Effect: Foucault on States and Statecraft,” in Governmentality: Current Issues and Future Challenges, ed. Ulrich Bröckling, Susanne Krasmann, and Thomas Lemke, 56-73. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Kelly, Mark G. E., The Political Philosophy of Michel Foucault. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Koopman, Colin, Genealogy as Critique: Foucault and the Problems of Modernity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013.
Lemke, Thomas, “An indigestible meal? Foucault, governmentality and state theory,” Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory 8:2 (2007), 43–64, https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2007.9672946
Lemke, Thomas, Foucault’s Analysis of Modern Governmentality: A Critique of Political Reason 1997]. New York: Verso, 2019.
Marx, Karl, “Proceedings of the Sixth Rhine Province Assembly. Third Article. Debates on the Law on Thefts of Wood,” in Karl Marx, Collected Works, Vol. 1, 224-263. New York: International Publishers, 1975.
Oksala, Johanna, Foucault, Politics, and Violence. Evanston, Il: Northwestern University Press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv47w8gc
Oksala, Johanna, “The Management of State Violence: Foucault’s Rethinking of Political Power as Governmentality,” Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 28:2 (2007), 53–66, https://doi.org/10.5840/gfpj20072823
Pallotta, Julien, “L’effet Althusser sur Foucault : de la société punitive à la théorie de la reproduction,” in Marx & Foucault: Lectures, Usages, Confrontations, ed. Christian Laval, Luca Paltrinieri, and Ferhat Taylan, 129-153. Paris: Éditions La Découverte, 2015.
Poulantzas, Nicos, State, Power, Socialism [1978]. New York: Verso, 2014.
Revel, Judith, La pensée du discontinu: Introduction à la lecture de Foucault. Paris: Mille et une nuits, 2010.
Rose, Nikolas, and Peter Miller, “Political Power beyond the State: Problematics of Gov-ernment,” The British Journal of Sociology 43:2 (June 1992), 173–205, https://doi.org/10.2307/591464
Saar, Martin, “Relocating the Modern State: Governmentality and the History of Political Ideas,” in Governmentality: Current Issues and Future Challenges, ed. Ulrich Bröckling, Su-sanne Krasmann, and Thomas Lemke, 34-55. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Thompson, Kevin, “From the historical a priori to the dispositif: Foucault, the phenomeno-logical legacy, and the problem of transcendental genesis,” Continental Philosophy Review 49:1 (March 2016), 41–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-015-9354-0
Tilly, Charles, Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1984.
Toscano, Alberto, “What Is Capitalist Power? Reflections on ‘Truth and Juridical Forms’,” in Foucault and the History of Our Present, ed. Sophie Fuggle, Yari Lanci, and Martina Tazzioli, 26-42. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Althusser, Louis, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investi-gation) (January-April 1969),” in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, 127-186. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971.
Anderson, Perry, Arguments within English Marxism. London: Verso, 1980.
Balibar, Étienne, “Letter from Étienne Balibar to the Editor” [2019], in Penal Theories and Institutions: Lectures at the Collège de France 1971-1972 [2019], ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, François Ewald, and Alessandro Fontana, 279-283. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Braudel, Fernand, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, vol. One [1966]. New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1976.
Cook, Deborah, Adorno, Foucault and the Critique of the West. New York: Verso, 2018.
Dean, Mitchell, and Kaspar Villadsen, State Phobia and Civil Society: The Political Legacy of Michel Foucault. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016.
Debard, Mireille, and Jean-Luc Hennig, Les Juges kaki. Paris: Alain Moreau, 1977.
Ewald, François. “Presentation,” Les Temps Modernes 354 (January 1979).
Flynn, Thomas R., Sartre, Foucault, and Historical Reason: A Poststructuralist Mapping of Histo-ry. Vol. 2. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Foucault, Michel, “Clarifications on the Question of Power” [1978], in Foucault Live (Inter-views, 1961-1984), ed. Sylvère Lotringer, 255-263. New York: Semiotext(e), 1996.
Foucault, Michel, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison [1975]. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.
Foucault, Michel, “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History” [1971], in Aesthetics, Method, and Episte-mology (Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Volume Two), ed. James D. Faubion, 369-391. New York: The New Press, 1998.
Foucault, Michel, “‘Omnes et Singulatim’: Toward a Critique of Political Reason” [1980], in Power (Essential Works of Foucault: 1954-1984, Volume Three), ed. James D. Faubion, 298-325. New York: The New Press, 2000.
Foucault, Michel, “On Popular Justice: A Discussion with Maoists” [1972], in Pow-er/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972-1977, ed. Colin Gordon, 1-36. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.
Foucault, Michel, “On the Ways of Writing History” [1967], in Aesthetics, Method, and Epis-temology (Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Volume Two), ed. James D. Faubion, 279-295. New York: The New Press, 1998.
Foucault, Michel, Penal Theories and Institutions: Lectures at the Collège de France 1971-1972 [2019]. Ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, François Ewald, and Alessandro Fontana. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Foucault, Michel, “Pouvoirs et émancipations. Entretien inédit entre Michel Foucault et quatre militants de la LCR, membres de la rubrique culturelle du journal Quotidien Rouge (Juillet 1977),” Revue Du MAUSS 38:2 (2011), 33–50. https://doi.org/10.3917/rdm.038.0033
Foucault, Michel, “Préface” [1977], in Dits et écrits: 1954-1988, vol. III: 1976-1979, ed. Dan-iel Defert and François Ewald, 138-140. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, “Questions of Method” [1980], in Power (Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Volume Three), ed. James D. Faubion, 223-238. New York: The New Press, 2000.
Foucault, Michel, “Return to History” [1972], in Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology (Essen-tial Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Volume Two), ed. James D. Faubion, 419-432. New York: The New Press, 1998.
Foucault, Michel, Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977-1978 [2004]. Ed. Michel Senellart, François Ewald, and Alessandro Fontana. New York: Pica-dor, 2007.
Foucault, Michel, “Society Must Be Defended”: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976 [1997]. Ed. Mauro Bertani and Alessandro Fontana. New York: Picador, 2003.
Foucault, Michel, The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language [1969]. New York: Vintage Books, 2010.
Foucault, Michel, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979 [2004]. Ed. Michel Senellart, François Ewald, Alessandro Fontana, and Arnold I. Davidson. New York: Picador, 2008.
Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality: Volume 1: An Introduction [1976]. New York: Vin-tage Books, 1978.
Foucault, Michel, The Punitive Society: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1972-1973 [2013]. Ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, François Ewald, and Alessandro Fontana. New York: Picador, 2015.
Foucault, Michel, “Truth and Juridical Forms” [1994], in Power (Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Volume Three), ed. James D. Faubion, 1-89. New York: The New Press, 2000.
Foucault, Michel, “Truth and Power” [1977], in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, ed. Colin Gordon, 109-133. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.
Gordon, Colin, “Governmental Rationality: An Introduction,” in The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality with Two Lectures by and an Interview with Michel Foucault, ed. Graham Burchell, Colin Gordon, and Peter Miller, 1-51. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Harcourt, Bernard E., “Course Context,” in The Punitive Society: Lectures at the Collège de France 1972-1973 [2019], ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, François Ewald, and Alessandro Fon-tana, 241-278. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Jessop, Bob, “Constituting Another Foucault Effect: Foucault on States and Statecraft,” in Governmentality: Current Issues and Future Challenges, ed. Ulrich Bröckling, Susanne Krasmann, and Thomas Lemke, 56-73. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Kelly, Mark G. E., The Political Philosophy of Michel Foucault. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Koopman, Colin, Genealogy as Critique: Foucault and the Problems of Modernity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013.
Lemke, Thomas, “An indigestible meal? Foucault, governmentality and state theory,” Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory 8:2 (2007), 43–64, https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2007.9672946
Lemke, Thomas, Foucault’s Analysis of Modern Governmentality: A Critique of Political Reason 1997]. New York: Verso, 2019.
Marx, Karl, “Proceedings of the Sixth Rhine Province Assembly. Third Article. Debates on the Law on Thefts of Wood,” in Karl Marx, Collected Works, Vol. 1, 224-263. New York: International Publishers, 1975.
Oksala, Johanna, Foucault, Politics, and Violence. Evanston, Il: Northwestern University Press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv47w8gc
Oksala, Johanna, “The Management of State Violence: Foucault’s Rethinking of Political Power as Governmentality,” Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 28:2 (2007), 53–66, https://doi.org/10.5840/gfpj20072823
Pallotta, Julien, “L’effet Althusser sur Foucault : de la société punitive à la théorie de la reproduction,” in Marx & Foucault: Lectures, Usages, Confrontations, ed. Christian Laval, Luca Paltrinieri, and Ferhat Taylan, 129-153. Paris: Éditions La Découverte, 2015.
Poulantzas, Nicos, State, Power, Socialism [1978]. New York: Verso, 2014.
Revel, Judith, La pensée du discontinu: Introduction à la lecture de Foucault. Paris: Mille et une nuits, 2010.
Rose, Nikolas, and Peter Miller, “Political Power beyond the State: Problematics of Gov-ernment,” The British Journal of Sociology 43:2 (June 1992), 173–205, https://doi.org/10.2307/591464
Saar, Martin, “Relocating the Modern State: Governmentality and the History of Political Ideas,” in Governmentality: Current Issues and Future Challenges, ed. Ulrich Bröckling, Su-sanne Krasmann, and Thomas Lemke, 34-55. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Thompson, Kevin, “From the historical a priori to the dispositif: Foucault, the phenomeno-logical legacy, and the problem of transcendental genesis,” Continental Philosophy Review 49:1 (March 2016), 41–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-015-9354-0
Tilly, Charles, Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1984.
Toscano, Alberto, “What Is Capitalist Power? Reflections on ‘Truth and Juridical Forms’,” in Foucault and the History of Our Present, ed. Sophie Fuggle, Yari Lanci, and Martina Tazzioli, 26-42. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
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2020-09-27
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Lichtenstein, E. B. (2020). On the Ways of Writing the History of the State. Foucault Studies, (28), 71–95. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v1i28.6074
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