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citizens, ensuring that individuals
under surveillance remain
productive and compliant.
The 16th century also saw
a significant shift in religious
practice in Europe. The Protestant
Reformation, which began in
1517, was a major challenge to
the Catholic Church and its power.
According to Foucault, the conflict
that took place between the
Protestant and Catholic Churches,
together with the rise of territorial
states, led early modern theorists
of government to combine two
very differing ways of thinking.
Theologians had always
approached governance from a
spiritual perspective: the pastoral
leader’s ultimate duty was to save
souls by watching over his “flock”
as a shepherd would guard his
sheep. Secular statesmen had
approached the art of government
in much more worldly terms—
seeing their role as managing
conflict, protecting the territory,
and securing peace. These two
ways of thinking, Foucault argues,
came together to form a new hybrid
art of governance in the late 16th
and 17th centuries.
Death of the prince
For the first time, it seemed
possible that the citizens and their
rulers could be brought together
in a system that was mutually
beneficial. The personal interest
of the rulers was no longer the
sole guiding principle for ruling;
with this shift, the idea of “ruling”
was transformed into “governing.”
Foucault traces the shift from
a sovereign notion of power to
government as an efficient mode of
operation through an examination
of the political treatise The Prince
(1513), by Florentine diplomat
Niccolò Machiavelli. In this short
work, the prince is seen as being
fundamentally concerned with
maintaining and expanding his
territories; his subjects living on
those lands are of little interest or
consequence, as long as they are
behaving themselves. The prince
remains morally detached from
his territory—he owes no one any
obligation or debt. This is the way
of thinking that came to an end as
monarchs lost their sovereign
rights, the Churches lost power,
and new technologies (such as
the printing press) allowed for the
spread of revolutionary ideas.
From the late Middle Ages to
the 17th century, the Renaissance
ushered in a return to classical
ideas of freedom and democracy,
followed by more revolutionary
thinking that threatened the
physical safety of monarchs as well
as their right to rule. In England, forMICHEL FOUCAULT
German priest Martin Luther led
the Protestant Reformation, which
challenged the power of the Catholic
Church and, argues Foucault, marked
the beginning of a shift in governance.
example, King Charles I’s belief
that he had a divine right to rule
brought him into armed conflict
with parliamentary forces in the
English Civil War. Charles was
tried, convicted of high treason,
and executed in 1649.Benevolent government?
Foucault highlights French
Renaissance writer Guillaume
de la Perriere’s 1567 definition of
government, which was significant
because of its lack of reference to
“territory.” Instead, government
was described here as the correct
disposition of things, organized
to lead to a convenient end. Under
an ideology of benevolence, the
responsibilities of governments
were expanded to include the
welfare of their citizens, although in
reality, this form of governance was
really concerned with managing
people’s lives—and the material
products of their efforts—in order
to maximize the nation’s strength.
Ensuring the growth of wealth was
seen as crucial in governing, but it