GENEALOGY AND NEXUS OF GOVERNMENTAL REASON, REASON OF STATE AND THE COUP D’ÉTAT, ACCORDING TO MICHEL FOUCAULT

Abstract

In this study we present an investigation into the genealogy of the reason of State and the coup d´état, according to Michel Foucault. The genealogy of governmental reason developed parallel to the scientific understanding of the world, in the 16th and 17th centuries, as a reality governed by laws of nature. The genealogy of reason of State incorporated the “scientific” elements of governmental reason as utilitarian techniques to conveniently govern a State, beyond the voluntarism of the discretion of sovereign power. Foucault shows in his genealogical analyzes that the coup d´état was conceived, already in the 17th century, as a governmental technique convenient to the reason of the State, whose three main characteristics are: necessity, violence and theatricality.

Keywords: Governmental reason. Reason d´état. Coup d´état. Michel Foucault.