Power as an immanent affair: Foucault and Deleuzes topological detail

ch. 4
In Allen, John (2003) Lost Geographies of Power, Malden, MA: Blackwell.

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Power as an Immanent Affair

POWER AS IMMANENT

In this conception of power, no force is imposing itself from the outside, but what is considered are the sets of relations and circumstances that one finds oneself within (p. 65)

The The

focus then is not in who has power?, but in the techniques of power spatial focus is in institutions (particularly in Foucault), though the question of government of dispersed populations (governmentality) is also considered Power is inseparable of its effects; has to do with the effectiveness with which subjects internalise meaning
This

view of power has been put forward by Foucault (1977, 1982, 1984), Rose (1999), Deleuze (1988) and Hardt and Negri (2001)
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Power as an Immanent Affair

FOUCAULT

Power works thorough a series of techniques in order to limit the possible ranges of actions of individuals
Distribution

within space is one of the four techniques of power for Foucault. It is his concern when analysing the disciplinary techniques of institutions such as the prison, mental health hospitals or the school But is the disposition of buildings, etc. in space in itself what directs behaviour in one way or another? Or is it rather the interpretation of such a layout made by the subjects?

The

answer is given by Deleuze, in his diagrams of power

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Power as an Immanent Affair

TOWARDS A SPATIALITY OF IMMANENT POWER

Power can be represented diagrammatically as the interplay of different forces, techniques, their spatial disposition as well as the discursive understandings which shape its effects (the molecular soup of Deleuze)

When

moving towards the analysis of government of diffuse populations (from micro to macro) Foucault transits from a more constrained, diagrammatic sense of power as domination to a more open-ended series of provocations and incitements between individuals (p.79)
Government operates into subjects through the constitution of various forms of subjectivity. But it is the free consent of the individual which makes possible the forming of oneselfs subjectivity

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Power as an Immanent Affair

HARDT AND NEGRI

In

the absence of sanction, we opt to restrain our behaviour because we may freely choose what is appropriate and what is inappropriate behaviour (p. 80)
The

idea that people are influenced by what they think their truth is as much as by the attempts of others does not reveal however much about how power bridges the gap between here and there
This

question is addressed somehow by Hardt and Negris Empire

There

are no points of application of power, but rather an extensive and omnipresent network of actors bundled together, all of them subscribing to liberal democracy and free market. Through acts such as buying a coffee at Starbucks, our subjectivity is conformed in accordance with such an ideology
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Power as an Immanent Affair

HARDT AND NEGRI

Power is exercised through a decentred, deterritorialized apparatus of rule for which Washington is not the focus
The

operation of world markets constrains subjects and brings the into line with rule It is no longer possible to discern the points of application of power, as long as a taken-for-grantedness is in operation
The

answer is counter-Empire, or forms of associational politics that confront Empire head on and choose targets such as the IMF in particular locations (thus giving power a spatial definition)
But still, contemporary power in the global age is so everywhere that it seems to lie nowhere

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Power as an Immanent Affair

SUMMING UP
Foucault

and Deleuze provide useful insights such as:

Power as coextensive with its field of operation, not imposed from the outside or flowing across space Power owing its effects to the interplay of forces constituted in space and time

But:
Loss of spatiality of power when we move from institutions towards the consideration of how diffuse populations are governed

Dont address why certain practices are more effective at a distance, while others require close proximity

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