ABSTRACT. The works of Michel Foucault have established a cross-disciplinary assessment of the modern liberal state. Specifically, his lectures at the end of the 1970s disposed the integrated web of liberalism as a rationality of government that is inseparable from the legitimizing discourse of political economy. Offering more than a critique, Foucault’s approach broadens the scope in which the institution of government as a meditating power of public and private body is put to test by subjectivities of those it deems governable. Instead of developing a theory of state, he brought attention to the ongoing creation of the knowledge that articulates what it means to govern oneself and others. Adopting this approach, the paper provides further context to Foucault’s assessment of pastorate society and liberalism with attention to modern day return of executive power accompanied by neo-liberalism meddling with liberal values. pp. 18–35

Keywords: liberalism; neoliberalism; pastorate power; Foucault; political economy

doi:10.22381/KC6120183