Abstract

RAFFIN, Marcelo. Biopolitics, Rights and Resistance in the Foucauldian Thought. Nat. hum. [online]. 2021, vol.23, n.2, pp. 76-93. ISSN 1517-2430.

In this article, I intend to analyze the tools provided by the Foucauldian thought on biopolitics which, on the one hand, is highly critical of the notion of the "rights of Man" /"human rights" ("droits de l'homme" in the original language) but which, on the other, proposes the figure of the "rights of the governed" ("droits des gouvernés") as a strategy of resistance to the powers. In fact, within the elements composing the diagnosis of biopolitics, Foucault formulates a strong criticism to the notion of the "rights of Man" / "human rights" but, at the same time, he poses the possibility of the exercise of what he calls the "rights of the governed" as an expression of resistance, critique and freedom before powers which oppress, subdue and dominate life and its unstable and changing forms. Therefore, in this article I will revise the distinction between both notions in the Foucauldian thought in order to evaluate the scope and the potentialities that the notion of "rights of the governed" can have, in particular, to interact with the situations and the problems we have to cope with and, especially, to what extent it opposes, contradicts or can be reconciled with that of "human rights".

Keywords : Biopolitics; Rights of the governed; Human rights; Politics; Resistance.

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