Foucault, Power And Governmentality

The research of governmentality is the most vital and powerful part in the works of Foucault in terms of attention, popular of research and the influence on reality. Since the 1990s, there are a lot of studies on the concept and the application of governmentality in domestic and overseas academia, which, to a great extent, have outlined the sphere and figures of this term, and produced a special discourse and domain of governmentality.In recent years, the research of govevmentality has been improved along with the publication of Foucault’s seminars about it. This dissertation tends to go into the inner of the idea and discourse of Foucault, and draw up the sketch of Governmentality Studies on the basis of the research of governmentality (Governmentalite) and the other related concepts.In the second chapter, we trace back the changes of some different kinds of concepts and analytic models of power in the history, and analyze the complicated relations between power, domination and techniques of governmentality, which specifies the basic meaning of techniques of governmentality (on the sense of technology). In the third chapter, we analyze the historic significance of techniques of governmentality and argue that the genealogy of governmentality is to a certain extent also the genealogy of modern state. In the fourth chapter, we focus on the govrnmmentality which is limited in the area of liberalism governmentality, which can help us classify the position of governmentality in the liberal governmentality.In conclusion, we argue that the study of "liberal governmentality" is the primary content and central issue in Foucault’s Governmentality Studies. At the meantime, the issue of liberalism is the core of governmentality because it involves into the relations between subjects and the relation between subject, power and knowledge. Consequently, it is the analysis and critique to the division of the dynamic area of liberality that has the ultimate importance in the whole Governmentality Studies. And only starting from the investigation of the relation between liberality and governmentality, we can truly understand the historic significance, realistic value and thinking depth of Foucault’s Governmentality Studies, and ultimately poses the question like this:could the Governmentality Studies be a new perspective of political philosophy?...