Politics and governmentality

In his writings on government Foucault commonly uses the term 'political' as if it were equivalent to a certain understanding of 'governmental'. Thus. in the title of his contribution to the Tanner Lectures on Human Values, 'Omnes et Singulatim; towards a criticism of ''political reason'', the object of Foucault's critique is clearly the rationality of government. This paper begins by clarifying Foucault's usage of the term 'political' to refer to a kind of governmental reason. Second, I argue that the practice of what Foucault understands by political reason in fact creates conditions for the emergence of a politics and a political reason of a very different kind. The appearance of this latter political reason poses a range of problems which must be addressed by any political (in the sense of governmental) reason but which play little part in Foucault's discussion. It suggests, in particular, that Foucault's account of the liberal rationality of government is seriously incomplete. Third, I consider the grounds for Foucault's counterposition of political reason to liberation, noting that his critique of political reason as a principle of subjectivation raises a more general issue, which he describes as 'the politics of ourselves' (Foucault 1993: 223). I conclude by noting that Foucault's discussions of political reason lead in two very different directions: towards a powerful analysis of the practices and rationalities of government in the modern West or towards a radical critique of most forms of government, including the modern government of oneself.