Regicide and Resistance: Foucault's Reconceptualization of Power

This article examines the role of resistance in Michel Foucault’s political thought. The article recovers this otherwise obscured aspect of Foucault’s thought through a systematic analysis of his theoretical regicide and consequent reconceptualization of power, agency and resistance. It is argued that Foucault developed a highly original account of resistance, which was, and should continue to be considered, central to his thought and its critical potential. It is shown how Foucault’s concept of resistance overcomes the limitation of voluntarism and determinism, which continue to mare contemporary political theory, providing a passage from the critique of contemporary configurations of power to the irrepressible possibility that they may be contested and changed.