The Liberal Government of Unfreedom

This article discusses the work of Michel Foucault, who treats liberalism as a form of political reason based on individual liberty. Thus, individual liberty limits the scope as well as the effectiveness of government. The author examines the liberal view of liberty, as depicted in Foucault's The Order of Things. Despite the liberal assumption that members of a governed population are capable of autonomous activity, the author argues that Foucault's view implies that many people in today's world are not yet ready for freedom. Other main topics include liberal responses to this view; Adam Smith's statement that dependency promotes violence by debasing the mind; the welfare ethos & its place in the spectrum of liberalism; & the postcolonial liberal condition. J. R. Callahan