Hi Richard,
Before focusing on the subject of resistence to power, I think you must
first look at the analysis of power in Foucault's work. Power is not a
"thing"; a concrete object. What Foucault wanted to do, was not another
theory about the nature of power, but an analysis on the "theoretisation of
power in the history of thought". He uses the word "power" mostly for the
modern power mechanism which appeared in the course of the XVII and XVIII
century Europe. This power, is not (in appearance) a form of domination
since it allows its alternatives to exist. So, in this form of power, there
is always a "resistance", or at least the possibility of resistance. This
possibility, on the other hand, can be a strategic component of the system
(games of truth). Every actor has the right to freely express itself inorder
to pose its truth (or we could say knowledge creation). So, it is this game
of truth, and the establishment of this truth that enables the existing
compound of complex power relations in our society. Every subject (actor in
the game of truth) has the right to enter into the game, construct a system
of ideas and/or actions (as a "dispositif", a machine) to try to transform
the existing modes of power and self. However, the mechanisms power are
also, and always reacting to all forms of resistance (different modes of
subjectivity in the peripheries of life experience) by pulling them to its
center.
About the comment of Mr. Jochen Hirschle, I think that for Foucault, the
relation between power (and he means modern power; cf. "What is
Enlightenment?", 1984) and subject leads to the possibility of resistance by
itself. (cf. "The Subject and Power", 1982, last 4-5 pages)
Good luck,
Can Batukan
Dept. of philosophy, University of Galatasaray, Istanbul