Review of the work Introduction to Michel Foucault's Biopolitics and its Contemporary Developments by Mozart Linhares da Silva

Abstract

This review critically analyzes the work "Introduction to Michel Foucault's Biopolitics and its Contemporary Developments" by Mozart Linhares da Silva (2024). The investigation examines how the author articulates Foucaultian concepts on disciplinary power and biopolitics with contemporary analyses by Giorgio Agamben and Achille Mbembe. The work traces the genealogy of power transformations from the sovereign model to disciplinary and biopolitical modalities, demonstrating how modernity developed governmental technologies that operate through calculated management of population life. Particular attention is given to biopolitics' developments in neoliberalism, showing how economic rationality permeates all dimensions of social existence. The work explores State racism and eugenic practices, from classical formulations to contemporary manifestations of "new-genics." Silva incorporates Agamben's contributions on bare life and state of exception, as well as Mbembe's concept of necropolitics, showing how biopolitical management articulates with death policies. The analysis establishes critical dialogues with Maria do Rosário Gregolin on archeogenealogical methodology, Alfredo Veiga-Neto on neoliberal governmentality, and Wendy Brown on democratic corrosion. Final considerations address the phenomenon of contemporary fascist neoliberalism, offering valuable conceptual tools for discourse analysis and critical understanding of the political present.