Research Article 10
Journal of Education & Social Sciences - Volume 14, Issue 1 2026
By Talha Iftikhar
DOI: 10.20547/jess1412614105
Keywords: Key Terms: Disciplinary Power, Biopolitics, Civil society, Freedom, Modernity

The conception of self that works behind the discourse of human rights can be traced back to the Enlightenment, but the universalization of this self requires an arena that can harness it and ensure the universalization of human rights. Civil society is that arena through which the aim of universality of human rights and ultimately individual freedom-liberty could be achieved. The implicit aim of the universalization of human rights through civil society is nothing but the universalization of freedom. Similarly, human rights discourse is that mechanism which strives for the formation of civil society. In a nutshell, civil society and human rights both reinforce each other. The issue appears when civil society discourse, instead of securing and expanding spheres of freedom, becomes a mode of subjugation and governance. The emergence of Foucauldian disciplinary power and governmentality has highlighted the inability of the modern self of framing-reframing conception of the good by itself. The domain of liberty seems to be shrinking through the discourse of civil society instead of expanding. The objective of the paper is to examine the discourse of civil society through the spectacles of Foucault’s formulation of power and to establish that civil society is an apparatus of capture instead of liberation.

Submission Date: 5 May, 2026 Reviews Completed: 25 Jun, 2026
Acceptance Date: 29 Jun, 2026 Publication Date: 30 Jun, 2026