Sécurité, Territoire, Population

The course given by Michel Foucault at the Collège de France from January to April 1978, Security, Territory, Population, marks a turning point in the development of his research. Starting from the problem of bio-power, introduced at the end of the course of 1976, "You must defend society", he proposes to study the implementation, in the eighteenth century, of this new technology of power, distinct from the disciplinary mechanisms, which has as its object the population and undertakes to manage it from the knowledge of its specific regularities. Security technology – this is the original thesis of this course – of liberalism as a rationality of government based on the principle of "let it do". This analysis reveals the importance of the notion of "government". Therefore, Michel Foucault chooses, from the fourth lesson, to re-tritute his problem in the context of a history of "governmentality".