The liberal government: an analysis from the genealogy of Foucault

Abstract

In this article, it is performed a critical exegesis around the technology of liberal governments, starting from the genealogical studies presented by the French philosopher Michel Foucault in his work titled The Birth of the Biopolitics. The exposition of liberal governmentalization will be developed in three moments. In the first, the specific features of liberalism as a technology of government will be considered, starting from its novelty with respect to the two devices of the reason of State. In the second, the principles of liberal government technology will be addressed, in order to understand how it produces liberties and through which instruments governs them. In the third, we will describe the two correlates that emerge hand in hand with liberalism: homo oeconomicus and civil society. In conclusion, genealogical studies on liberal governmentality require new analyses on the relations between citizens and public power.