ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we examine the changes and new turns in Foucault’s approach to power after 1977. In this period, the theme of power is largely absent from Foucault’s work. Foucault turns his attention fi rst to the related theme of government, and then, through a turn in his interest in government from statecraft to the “government of the self,” in his last work becomes interested primarily in ancient ethics. Nevertheless, in this period Foucault does undertake signifi cant, if occasional, refl ections on the nature of power. In this chapter, we show how these later refl ections interact with his earlier work on the topic to in fact complete his picture of how power works, and how the turns in Foucault’s late work away from power represent developments of his thought that do not involve substantial repudiation of his earlier work on power, or indeed his earlier work more broadly.
