This article deals with Foucault's conception of power and its relation to law, as it appears especially in his book Discipline and Punish, first published in 1975. That book is the main source of this article, though I rely also on a number of Foucault's texts. After a detailed presentation of his analysis of power as well as the relation between power and law in his works, I conclude by emphasizing his important contributions to our understanding of modern societies. But I also advance some critical comments regarding both his diagnosis of modern society as an almost total pathology and the lack of a normative dimension in his theoretical perspective.
Foucault; Power; Law; Discipline and Punish