BIOPOLITICS: BACKGROUND, CHARACTERISTICS AND EXAMPLES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The biopolitics is a concept that refers to the interjection between politics and life itself of the human being. That is, it is a combination of biology and politics. The term has existed since the beginning of the 20th century, but at the end of that century its meaning obtained the direction it has today, thanks to the interpretation of Michel Foucault.

However, the term biopolitics is ambiguous and has several definitions, which depend on the personal interpretation that each individual has about politics and life. Based on this, the concept is influenced by the particular vision of each person about what life is, what politics is and the relationship between both terms.

Background

XVII century

Michel Foucault, who redefined the term biopolitics last century, considers that the origin of this concept dates back to the seventeenth century.

At this time, the authorities of the different countries acted openly to repress, take territory and destroy human life.

In turn, in this century, violence saw its counterpart in a new form of power that emerged, whose objective was to improve, develop and guarantee human life.

Both types of government were influenced by centuries of cultural changes in humanity, but Foucault saw this century as the beginning of a development of authority.

characteristics

Emergence and definitions

Although the term was first coined in 1905 by the Swedish author Johan Rudolf Kjellén, it was Michel Foucault's theory that led to the wide use of this term today. Foucault relates this concept to biopower, which emphasizes the combination of life with human power.

However, there are two main ways to use the concept of biopolitics. The main idea is that of Foucault, who assures that life cannot be seen beyond the political structure.

The political process directly influences the development of human life; life must be understood as a combination of political strategies and technologies.

The other concept, which was more influential until the development of Foucault's theory, is the poststructuralist. This idea was developed in the mid-1970s by a number of researchers who adhered to this philosophical theory.

Postnatural theory has a more direct approach than Foucault's and is easier to understand. It seeks to study biology and the origins of life in order, based on this concept, to define what politics and its development are.

Relationship with biopower

Biopower is another term coined by Foucault, who uses it to define the structural breadth of biopolitics. Biopower is a form of productive power that affects both individuals and a social group.

This term does not refer to how political authority is exercised in the biological sphere, but rather the characteristics that define a group or an individual, which do influence the development of the political management of a nation.

That is, biopower encompasses the individual and group attributes of the people that make up a society, which are closely linked to the biological development of human beings. These attributes mainly encompass population phenomena, such as the birth rate or the death rate.

Biopolitics depends on this term to exist. Biopower basically gives a necessary coherence to biopolitical theory, allowing the concept to be understood in the same way that Foucault did, beyond the natural approach of poststructuralists.

Influence of the regime

The study of biopolitics in a country is influenced by the regime in charge of exercising authority in the nation.

In other words, the concepts of biopolitics must be related to the particular regimes of each nation to understand the functioning and its influence on the development of the population.

This concept is not limited to the modern age; in fact, it serves to fully study the development of monarchical governments in ancient times.

Although the concept takes relevance in the 20th century, the regimes of Antiquity had a much more important influence on the development of the life of a country.

This was due to the lack of human rights and the political debauchery of assassinating enemies left and right.

Even so, the introduction of the concept in the current era serves to study in depth the development of certain laws that influence people's life decisions and, therefore, affect the population phenomena of a country.

For example, the laws used to control the birth rate are a stark example of biopolitics today.

Examples

Birth control in China

One of the loudest examples in recent human history is birth control in China.

The Chinese government, to control the high rate of births that occurred in the country (which led to a significant excess population) enacted a law so that parents could only have one child.

This Chinese law changed its structure in 2012, but the birth rate decreased significantly as well.

Immigration laws

Another example of the biopolitics that affects every country on the planet is the presence of immigration laws. Border controls prevent massive population migration between countries.

This gives order to the societies of each nation in times of crisis; in ancient times these movements would have meant a mass exodus.

Governance

In medieval times, biopolitical events were much more influential, as there was no modern scrutiny of today's governments. The exterminations and conquests of neighboring countries are clear examples of biopolitics in ancient times.

Mortality rates

Ancient biopolitics is also reflected in the severe punishments that criminals received and the lack of modern organization of the population, which led to high death rates.

References

1. Biopolitics, Generation Online, (nd). Taken from generation-online.org
2. Biopolitics and State Regulation of Human Life, M. Laurence, 2016. Taken from oxfordbibliographies.com
3. Michel Foucault: Biopolitics and Biopower, R. Adams, 2017. Taken from criticallegalthinking.com
4. Post-structuralism, Wikipedia in English, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
5. Michel Foucault, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018. Taken from Britannica.com