These lectures by Michel Foucault at the Collège de France mark the beginning of one of the most influential concepts in modern social sciences and political philosophy - governmentality. Foucault's two-volume history of governmentality develops this concept and its theoretical implications through a rich analysis of the genesis of modern liberalism and its shadow: biopower. While the first volume emphasizes the relationships between the art of government, normalization, and subjectivation, the birth of biopolitics focuses on neoliberalism and the complex relations it maintains with the state. Behind all historical, sociological, political, and economic investigations lies what Foucault considers to be the true interest of the philosopher: the politics of truth.