This book reconstructs an ancient theory of power and applies it to contemporary debates on sovereignty. It begins by
reconstructing techne
as a form of strategic power-knowledge through an examination of Archaic and Classical Greek texts. It then analyses its political manifestation,
politike techne
, which Socrates describes as the craft of the soul`. In Plato s later thought, this craft is directed toward the education and normalisation of individual souls. Finally,
politike techne
, early modern reason of state, and Guantánamo Bay are examined as distinct paradigms of the generation of sovereignty.
