GOVERNMENT AND POWER IN FOUCAULT

This article shows that Michel Foucault’s concept of government occupies the space opened for his critique of modern power. Foucault passes gradually from the concept of power to the notion of government in their analysis. However, it is not a replacement of equivalent concepts, but a conceptual refinement that illuminates the dimension of activity of subjects as the basis of modern social and political relations. Thus, this article has two distinct and complementary stages: it shows the possibility of moving from the concept of power to the concept of government, at least as the central concept to the social and political analysis, and it discusses the scope of the concept of government, which is installed in a different dimension from that of power. © 2016, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). All rights reserved.