Govern Mentality Calculation Territory

Introduction In the cours e summary to his 1 977 ^ 78 Colle © ge de France lectures Se ¨ curite ¨, Territoire, Population, published shortly after their completion, Michel Foucault declared that he had been concerned wi th ``the genes is of a pol it ical kno wl edg e [ savoir ] that was to pl ace at the cent re of its concerns the noti on of popula ti on and the mechani sms capable of ensuring its regulation'' (2004a, page 373; 1997a, page 67). The shift to a concern wi th population is thus ex pl icitly noted as the focus of the course (for an int roduct ion of this iss ue see also 1997b, pag es 2 18 ^ 21 9) . In the ``Governmenta li t y' ' lec ture (1 991 ) ö the fourth of this course ö Foucault says that the series of the title ö that is, securit y , territ ory , populat ion ö beco mes ` `securit y, population, government'': in other words, territory is removed and government inserted (2004a, page 91; 1991, page 87). (1 ) Indeed, in that very lecture he suggests that the title of the course should have been not `` securit y , territ ory , populat ion'' but, ra ther , the ` `history of ` gov ernmentalit y' '' (200 4a, page 1 1 1; 1 99 1 , page 1 02) . This themati c is cont inued in the 1 97 8 ^ 79 course Naissance de la Biopolitique (2004b, see pages 3, 5). Five months after the end of that course, in October 1979 at Stanford, Foucault talks of his work in broad overview as ` `the rudi ments of somet hing I' ve been working at for the last two ye ars. I t' s the historical analysis of what we would call, using an obsolete term, the `art of government''' (2000, page 324). It is for this reason, then, that the single lecture ``Governmentality'' has been so important in the reception and development of Foucault's work (see, for example, Governmentality, calculation, territory À Stuart Elden International Boundaries Research Unit, Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, England; e-mail: [email protected] Received 22 December 2005; in revised form 15 February 2006; published online 23 March 2007 Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 200 7 , volume 25 , pages 562 ^ 580 Abstract. In thi s paper I discuss Foucau lt' s two recent ly publ ish ed cou rses, Se ¨curite ¨ , T erritoir e, Population and Naissance de la Biopolitique . Foucault notes that he has undertaken a genealogy of the modern state and its different apparatuses from the perspective of a history of governmental reason, taking into account society, economy, population, security, and liberty. In the ``Governmentality'' lecture ö the fourth of the first course ö Foucault says that the series of the title ö that is, security, territory , populatio n ö becomes `` secu rity , populati on, government '' . In other wor ds, ter ritory is removed and government appended. And, yet, the issue of territory continually emerges only to be repeatedly marginalised, eclipsed, and underplayed. A key concern of the course is the politics of cal cula tion whic h Fo ucau lt discuss es through the development of polit ical ari thme tic, populati on statistics, and political economy. Explicitly challenging Foucault's readings of Machiavelli and the Peace of Westphalia, I argue that territorial strategies should themselves be read as calculative, with the same kinds of mechanisms brought to bear on populations applied here too. I therefore discuss how Foucault's discussions of political economy, the police, and calculation are useful in thinking the history of the concept of territory. DOI:10.1068/d428t À This paper was delivered at the ``Rethinking Governmentality'' Workshop at the University of Durham, 12 January 2005, and in somewhat different form at the `Rethinking Foucault, Rethinking Political Economy' Conference at the University of Leicester on 17 March 2005. (1) Although I reference the English translation of this lecture, I have modified it to accord with the French, which is based on the tapes. The English translation is of an Italian version published in 1979.

Govern Mentality Calculation Territory

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