ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 explores how the biopolitical government of population emerged as a signifi cant problem with the constitution of the modern, Western liberal state (see Porter, 1999; Rosen, 1993). Michel Foucault recognized the importance of changing understandings of disease, health, sanitation, hygiene, and mental pathology as he saw their formulations and treatment regimes shaped public life and individual practice. Indeed, Foucault’s analysis of governmentality examined how linkages between (a) the health of the population and (b) the economic and political security of the state resulted in distinct “biopolitical” strategies for representing and acting upon populations across liberal governmentalities. For Foucault, biopolitical strategies were not simply imposed from above but were adopted as practices of self-government in everyday routines and disciplines.
