Foucault, Neoliberalism, and Beyond

This volume dismantles any simple link between Foucault and neoliberalism, leaving us with parts for reassembly into politics of our own. -- Quinn Slobodian, Associate Professor of History, Wellesley College Foucaults lectures on liberal and neoliberal governmentality at the end of the 1970s have provoked multiple controversies over the evolution of his thought and politics. This excellent collection of essays provides a wealth of historical detail and analysis that helps to situate these lectures in relation to their time and to the trajectory and sources of his thought. This book is indispensable for an informed appreciation of Foucaults work during this period and its relation to a key moment in French and global history. -- Paul Patton, Hongyi Chair Professor of Philosophy, Wuhan University In recent political debate, the question of Michel Foucaults notoriously ambiguous relationship to neoliberalism has become a cypher for all kinds of contemporary preoccupations on the left. But do we really know what Foucault was responding to? This volume performs the immensely valuable work of historicizing Foucaults relationship to Marxism, neoliberalism and the so-called second left. Making no attempt to definitively resolve the question of Foucaults political sympathies, the papers in this volume meticulously document the unique political challenges of the late 1970s and manage to be all the more illuminating about our contemporary predicament. This brilliant volume will transform the tenor of contemporary debate around Foucault, neoliberalism, and the revolutionary left. -- Melinda Cooper, Associate Professor in the School of Social and Political Science, University of Sydney

Stephen W. Sawyer is Professor of History at the American University of Paris Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins is a Lecturer at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

Introduction: Stephen Sawyer and Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins Chapter 1: Michael C. Behrent, Neoliberalism: The Highest Stage of Anti-Humanism? Chapter 2: Serge Audier, Is Foucault a Good Guide for Understanding, Critiquing and Combatting Neoliberalism? Chapter 3: Daniel Zamora, Finding a Left Governmentality: Foucaults Last Decade Chapter 4: Aner Barzilay, Rereading the Birth of Biopolitics in Light of Foucaults Early Reading of Marx Chapter 5: Dotan Leshem, Foucault, Genealogy, Critique Chapter 6: Duncan Kelly, Michel Foucault on Phobie dtat and Neoliberalism Chapter 7: Claudia Castiglioni, Foucault, Neoliberalism, and the Iranian Revolution Chapter 8: Luca Paltrinieri, Neoliberal Selves: Human Capital Between Bourdieu and Foucault Chapter 9: Judith Revel, Not Fostering Life, and Leaving to Die