Clausewitz and Foucault: War and power

Abstract

Carl von Clausewitz's On War has influenced theorists across a wide range of disciplines, and one such was the late French philosopher and historian, Michel Foucault. This paper considers what at first sight appears to be Foucault's reversal of Clausewitz, but which on closer examination can be seen to be an accordance with many striking parallels. It is argued that Foucault's reconceptualisation of modem, or disciplinary, relations of power
corresponds remarkably closely with Clausewitz's analysis of war, to the extent that both power and war can be understood in terms of multiple, unstable, interactive and variable relations of force, governed by rationality but often resistant to analysis, the significance of which lies primarily in their fluctuating and reciprocal outcomes and consequences, and not least their moral and psychological components and effects.