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Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-76
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2004
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Literary TheoryFrenchDecolonialityPhilosophy Of HistoryHistorical SociologyFull TranscriptConstitutional TheoryLanguage StudiesIntellectual HistoryBiopoliticsFrench LiteraturePost-colonial CriticismFrench CultureSociety Must BePower RelationsLiterary HistoryHumanitiesFrench SocietyModernity
Foucault’s 1975‑76 College de France lectures, titled *Society Must Be Defended*, argue that war provides a framework for understanding power relations, with politics viewed as a continuation of war and sovereignty as an attempt to deny conflict‑based domination. The text illustrates these ideas through historical examples from early modern England and France, interspersed with digressions into French tragedy and gothic literature.
SOCIETY MUST BE DEFENDED is a full transcript of the lectures given by Foucault at the College de France in 1975-76. The main theme of the lectures is the contention that war can be used to analyse power relations. Foucault contends that politics isa continuation of war by other means. Thus, any constitutional theory of sovereignty and right is an attempt to refute the fact that power relations are based upon a relationship of conflict, violence and domination. The book is coloured with historical examples, drawn from the early modern period in both England and France, with wonderful digressions into subjects as diverse as classical French tragedy and the gothic novel.