Foucault and Liberal Political Economy

 

About the discussion

In this Food for Thought Mark Pennington explores the compatibility of Michel Foucault’s post-modern social theory and philosophy with the principles of liberal political economy. Drawing on arguments from his forthcoming book Foucault and Liberal Political Economy: Power, Knowledge and Freedom (Oxford University Press) he will show how Foucault’s core ideas can be synthesised with those of anti-rationalist political and economic liberals such as Hayek and Oakeshott and will demonstrate how classical liberals can learn from Foucault’s distinctive understanding of the threats to individual freedom that pervade contemporary ‘liberal’ societies.

About the speaker

Mark Pennington is Professor of Political Economy and Public Policy in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College University of London. He was Head of Department between 2016 and 2020 and is now director of the Centre for the Study of Governance and Society. His early work focussed on urban planning including two of the first public choice and Hayekian analyses of the UK Town and Country Planning system – Planning and the Political Market (2000: Athlone/Bloomsbury) and for the IEA, Liberating the Land (2002). Since then, he has written widely on numerous aspects of the classical liberal tradition, summarised in his 2011 book Robust Political Economy: Classical Liberalism and the Future of Public Policy (Edward Elgar). His new book Foucault and Liberal Political Economy: Power, Knowledge and Freedom, will be published by Oxford University Press in June 2025.

About the series

This will be the next instalment in our monthly Food for Thought series, hosted in partnership with the Vinson Centre at the University of Buckingham. The purpose of this series is to foster high-level academic discussion on themes within the classical liberal tradition, touching on economics, philosophy, history, law, and related disciplines. In turn, we hope to form a community of academics, policymakers, professionals, and students united by the exchange of ideas and life-long learning.

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