Ai confini della governamentalità: la razionalità liberale del governo in Michel Foucault

This essay constitutes a politico-philosophical short inquiry into the presuppositions and implications of the reduction of Michel Foucault’s research project to its bio-political dimension and of the coalescence of libertarian and progressive ideas that are at the heart of his understanding of liberal governamentality. The essay aims to shed light on the controversial relationship between the classical notion of liberty and its management within the liberal science of government as portrayed by the French philosopher. The basic assumption underlying our account is that such relationship is the ground for the intelligibility of the Foucauldian idea of liberalism as actualized utopia. Our main purpose is showing that the concept of sovereignty is not obliterated but rather reinforved by the risks inherent in the very functioning of liberal governamentality.