Edward Elgar Publishing Debating Biopolitics: New Perspectives on the Government of Life

Emerging out of the theoretical and practical urge to reflect on key contemporary debates arising in biopolitical scholarship, this timely book launches an in-depth investigation into the concept and history of biopolitics. In light of tumultuous political dynamics across the globe and new developments in this continually evolving field, the book reconsiders and expands upon Michel Foucault’s input to biopolitical studies. Featuring rigorously structured investigations into the genealogies, dimensions, and practices of biopolitics, this incisive book introduces novel voices and perspectives into the biopolitical corpus. Contributions from eminent scholars investigate core topics of governing populations, community, and sovereignty, as well as exploring areas that remain undertheorized in the field of biopolitics, including the political accounts of non-human entities, developments in sexual health policy, and the biopolitics of time. Broad in scope, the book draws from the foundations of the biopolitical canon to forge new horizons and create opportunities for novel theoretical and empirical analysis. Debating Biopolitics will be an invaluable tool for scholars and postgraduate students of political science and political philosophy. Its empirically driven research will also benefit practitioners and policymakers interested in the biopolitical dimension of decision-making and policy analysis.