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From: Thomas Diez <Thomas.Diez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 10:12:46 +0200
Why would you think that power crystallized in a more rigid hierarchical
structure has to be power in the "old" sovereignty notion? The discursive
(re)production of a national identity, it seems to me, is one kind of power
which (at least for a long time) was a rigid and hierarchical (privileging
"national" over other identities) power, a domination, intertwined with
sovereignty but not identical with it. Would others agree with that? - Thomas
At 14:00 29.04.1996 +1000, you wrote:
>I have a problem with Foucault's conception of power and its relation to
>domination. I don't think he adequately distinguishes between the two. He
>describes power as a series of force relations which are free-flowing,
>unpredictable and which are easily reversed to become relations of
>resistance. He describes 'domination' as a state where these normally
>free-flowing power relations become crystallized into more rigid
>hierarchical structures which block the flow of forces.
>Now, it seems to me that this relationship between power and domination
>is really not all that different from a traditional juridico-sovereign
>model of power which Foucault claims to eschew. It seems like a standard
>model of oppression in which the free flow of 'life' or forces or
>whatever is blocked by some kind of domination. This is all Foucault
>seems to be saying, and it seems rather conventional to me.
>Anyway, what do others think? Maybe I've got it all wrong, but I think
>its a matter which has to be clarified. I'd like to hear your responses
>to this.
>SAUL
>
>
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Thomas Diez
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