History as a Test Field for Biopolitical Ideas; [ИСТОРИЯ КАК ПОЛЕ ИСПЫТАНИЯ БИОПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ИДЕЙ]

The history of biopolitics is often presented as a development of the liberal Foucauldian tradition, without analysing the impact of historical events on the transformation of biopolitical ideas. This article focuses on the impact of conflicts and macro-events in different socio-cultural arenas on the development of biopolitical ideas. The first line of analysis is devoted to the development of the Foucauldian version of biopolitics (from M. Foucault to "democratic biopolitics" in the West) and describes the trials of biopolitical ideas in J. Agamben's version related to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, Agamben was obstructed by fellow philosophers because he insisted on the need to protect individual rights in the context of state biopolitical control. The article pays attention to the social conflicts and social pressures that accompany crises and can influence scientists to abandon the original coordinates of their own ideas or to maintain their position at the cost of isolation and social condemnation. The second line of analysis is devoted to the formation of biopolitical ideas in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia, which received an impetus for development in the late 20th c. thanks to the first scientific biopolitical seminars at the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University. Using the example of Russian biopolitics, it is shown how macro-events and socio-cultural context determine the development of biopolitical ideas. To conclude, the article characterises the challenges facing societies and states that will guide the development of biopolitics in the near future. © 2024 Aquilo. All rights reserved.