ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the points of contact between Foucault’s political thought and other streams of contemporary theory. Contemporary feminist theory is permeated with references to Foucault, and I shall focus here on feminists who find some aspects of his thought appropriate. Jürgen Habermas has emerged as a leading figure of theory and an advocate of the brand of humanist modernism to which Foucault was opposed. Habermas and others who adopt his perspective have delivered the most telling criticisms of Foucault’s project as a whole. Finally, Foucault’s politics have also infused recent Nor th American theor y, often refer red to as postmodernist, which is the current manifestation of a radical democratic tradition. I argue that Foucault’s agonal politics are best placed within this tradition.
