Ernesto Laclau: Post-Marxism, Populism and Critique

294 Pages·2014·2.98 MB·English

by  Ernesto Laclau

ERNESTO LACLAU
ErnestoLaclaublazedauniquetrailinpoliticaltheoryandphilosophysincetheearly1970s.
In so doing, he has articulated a range of philosophical and theoretical currents into a
coherent alternative to mainstream models and practices of conducting social and political
science.Theeditors havefocusedonworkinthreekeyareas:
Post-Marxist political theory: discourse, hegemony, signification
Laclauhasdevelopedanoriginalconceptionofpost-Marxistpoliticaltheorythatisgrounded
onamaterialisttheoryofdiscourse.Thelatterisconstructedfromarangeoftheoreticaland
philosophical sources, including poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, linguistic theory and post-
analyticalphilosophy.Thecentrepieceofthisapproachisthecategoryofhegemony,which
develops Antonio Gramsci’s seminal contribution to Marxist theory, and is in turn con-
nected to a web of related concepts, including articulation, dislocation, the logics of
equivalence and difference, political identification, myth and social imaginary. These ideas
have informed a number of empirical and theoretical studies associated with the Essex
Schoolof DiscourseTheory.
Analysing populism
A central concern of Laclau’s writings has been the question of populism, both in Latin
Americawherehebeganhisinterrogationofthephenomenon(especiallytheexperienceof
Peronism), and then in his engagement with the “new social movements” and socialist
strategy more generally. The concept of populism becomes a general way of exploring the
“primacy ofpolitics”insociety.
Critical engagements
Laclau is first and foremost an engaged intellectual who has consistently sought to theorize
contemporary events and reality, and to debate with the leading intellectual figures of the
day, with respect to questions of political principle and strategy. His recent debates with
JudithButlerandSlavojŽižekinContingency,Hegemony,Universality:ContemporaryDialogues
ontheLeft,publishedin2000(London:Verso),exemplifythiscriticalethos.Hecontinuesto
elaboratehisapproachbychallengingandarticulatingrelatedapproaches,andbysituatinghis
workinconnectiontothedemocratic Left.
David Howarth is a Reader in the Department of Government and Co-Director of the
Centre forTheoretical StudiesattheUniversityof Essex,UK.
Routledge Innovators in Political Theory
Edited by Terrell Carver, University of Bristol and Samuel A. Chambers, The Johns
Hopkins University
Routledge Innovators in Political Theory focuses on leading contemporary thinkers in
political theory, highlighting the major innovations in their thought that have
reshapedthe field. Eachvolumecollectsboth publishedand unpublishedtexts, and
combines them with an interview with the thinker. The editorial introduction
articulates the innovator’s key contributions in relation to political theory, and
contextualises the writer’s work. Volumes in the series will be required reading for
both students and scholars of twenty-first century politics.
1 William E. Connolly
Democracy, pluralism and political theory
EditedbySamuel A.Chambers andTerrell Carver
2 Carole Pateman
Democracy, feminism, welfare
EditedbyTerrell CarverandSamuel A.Chambers
3 Michael J. Shapiro
Discourse, culture & violence
EditedbyTerrell CarverandSamuel A.Chambers
4 Chantal Mouffe
Hegemony, radical democracy, and the political
EditedbyJamesMartin
5 Ernesto Laclau
Post-Marxism, populism, and critique
EditedbyDavidHowarth
ERNESTO LACLAU
Post-Marxism, populism and critique
Edited by
David Howarth
Firstpublished2015
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LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Laclau,Ernesto
[Essays.Selections]
ErnestoLaclau:post-marxism,populism,andcritique/editedbyDavid
Howarth.
pagescm--(Routledgeinnovatorsinpoliticaltheory;5)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Populism--Philosophy.2.Socialism--Philosophy.I.Howarth,DavidR.,
editorofcompilation.II.Title.
JC423.L252014
320.01--dc23
2013049230
ISBN:978-0-415-87086-3(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-87087-0(pbk)
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction: discourse, hegemony and populism:
Ernesto Laclau’s political theory 1
David Howarth
PARTI
Post-Marxist political theory: discourse, hegemony,
signification 21
1 Discourse (1993) 23
2 Dislocation and capitalism, social imaginary
and democratic revolution (1990) 30
3 Why do empty signifiers matter to politics? (1994) 66
4 The death and resurrection of the theory of ideology (1996) 75
5 Ideology and post-Marxism (2007) 96
PARTII
Analysing populism 109
6 Towards a theory of populism (1977) 111
7 Populism: what’s in a name? (2005) 152
vi Contents
8 Why constructing a people is the main task of
radical politics (2006) 165
PARTIII
Critical engagements 197
9 ‘The time is out of joint’ (1995) 199
10 Can immanence explain social struggles? (2003) 213
11 On ‘real’ and ‘absolute’ enemies (2005) 223
12 Bare life or social indeterminacy? (2005) 231
13 Community and its paradoxes: Richard Rorty’s
“Liberal Utopia” (1991) 242
An interview with Ernesto Laclau: questions from David Howarth 257
Index 272
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the final stages of editing this volume, we learned that Ernesto Laclau died
suddenly while attending a conference in Valencia, Spain. This book is dedicated
to the memory of Ernesto—an inspirational thinker and generous teacher and
mentor. I would also like to thank Terrell Carver, Sam Chambers and the editorial
teamatRoutledgefortheirpatienceandgoodcheerinensuringthecompletionof
this book.
David Howarth
University of Essex
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INTRODUCTION
Discourse, hegemony and populism: Ernesto
’
Laclau s political theory
David Howarth
Ernesto Laclau, an Argentinian political theorist and philosopher, has taught and
conducted research at a number of leading universities in the UK, North America
and in his native Latin America. He is the foremost exponent of a distinctively
post-Marxist approach to social analysis, which has developed over the past thirty
or forty years. In elaborating this approach, he has articulated currents within
poststructuralist theory (e.g. Derrida and Foucault) and post-analytical philosophy
(e.g.WittgensteinandRorty),togetherwithpsychoanalysis (e.g.Freud andLacan),
so as to elaborate a novel method of discourse analysis. This approach is under-
pinned by a materialist conception of discourse, which deconstructs the realism/
idealism opposition, as well as the traditional dichotomies between thought and
reality, linguistic and non-linguistic practices and mind and matter. His work has
inspired a number of scholars in the social sciences and humanities, who have
endeavoured to apply and develop his theoretical and methodological approach in
various ways.1
In general, his work can be divided into three basic phases: an initial attempt to
develop a Marxist theory of ideology and politics, which draws upon and extends
the work of Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser; the development of a post-
Marxist theory of hegemony that incorporates poststructuralist philosophy, thus
breaking decisively with the residual determinism and essentialism of the Marxist
paradigm; and the further development of this post-Marxist approach through a
deeper engagement with Jacques Derrida’s deconstructionist philosophy and Jacques
Lacan’s interpretation of Freudian psychoanalysis. His work is indispensable for
characterizing and explaining the emergence and dissolution of political ideologies
and the social formations within which they are constructed, as well as the con-
stitution of social subjects. On a more normative register, together with Chantal
Mouffe, he has constructed and advocated a project for a radical and plural
democracy (Laclau, 2005b; Laclau and Mouffe, 1985; Mouffe, 1993; 2000; 2005).