Ad continendos homines = Containing people

Abstract

The article explores the genealogy of security governance through the theoretical lens of Michel Foucault, focusing on the role of the city as a space of biopolitics and surveillance. Starting with a comparison to Montesquieu, it investigates the shift from disciplinary forms of power, based on practices of punishment and spatial control, to techniques of governing the population and security, which configure an integrated biopolitical apparatus. The city thus becomes not only an object of regulation but also a site for the production of norms and power strategies that shape subjectivities and the management of social risks. The article contributes to a critical rereading of the Foucauldian paradigm, highlighting the complexity and ambiguity of contemporary governance techniques.