Introduction

Foucault once said that po liti cal theory had still not reckoned with the end of sovereign power. In like fashion, one can say that po liti cal theory is only just now starting to confront itself and its languages with the consequences caused by the entrance of biology and biological considerations into ques-tions of government. Roberto Esposito is perhaps the contemporary thinker who has gone furthest in questioning the traditional categories of po liti cal thought in light of the emergence of biopolitics. In this accessible collec-tion of essays, he presents his own philosophical enterprise in terms of bridg-ing deconstruction with biopolitics. Esposito is perhaps best known for his project of deconstructing the categories of modern po liti cal thought— all of which turn around the idea of immunity— by appealing to the subver-sive potential of the idea of community. In his recently translated volume Bios: Biopolitics and Philosophy, he embarks on the project of providing an affi rmative biopolitics.