"Typical of those rationalities of government that consider themselves 'liberal' is the simultaneous delimitation of the sphere of the political by reference to the right of other domains - the market, civil society and the family being the three most commonly deployed - and the invention of a range of techniques that would try to act on events in these domains without breaching their autonomy. It is for this reason that knowledges and forms of expertise concerning the internal characteristics of the domains to be governed assume particular importance in liberal strategies and programmes of rule, for these domains are not to be 'dominated' by rule, but must be known, understood and related to in such a way that events within them - productivity and conditions of trade, the activities of civil associations, ways of rearing children and organizing conjugal relations and financial support within household - support, and do not oppose, political objectives. [...] Perhaps one could say that the general strategic field of all those programmes of government that regard themselves as liberal has been defined by the problem of how free individuals can be governed such that they enact their freedom appropriately."

- Nikolas Rose, Identity, Genealogy, History