Biopolitics and Neoliberalism. The relationship between Biopolitics and Neoliberalism by reference to the German abortion law

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Politics - Basics and General, grade: 79 %, University of Kent, language: English, abstract: This paper shall discuss the relationship between neoliberalism and biopolitics by reference to the German abortion law §218 and §219. To do this it shall first define the terms and then have a look at German abortion laws. Subsequently, I will discuss how both neoliberalism and biopolitics are integral parts of German abortion law, and which end this serves. The paper comes to the conclusion that neoliberalism and biopolitics do not antagonise each other. Biopolitics and Neoliberalism are, as will be seen, two fundamentally different philosophies. One wants regulation, and puts responsibility and power in the hands of the state, the other wants deregulation and puts responsibility and power in the hands of the individual. However, they need not necessarily pull into two different directions.