HEGEMONY, RADICAL DEMOCRACY, POPULISM

Abstract

This article demonstrates what it means to construe Ernesto Laclau's work as precisely political theory. By analyzing his work in terms of the relations between ‘hegemony’ as a theory of the political, ‘radical democracy’ as a normative theory, and the ever-present but of ten overlooked element of ‘populism’ as a theory of a form of politics, it captures the full-fledged political character of his work (as opposed to simply moral theory). Though the article offers various criticisms of the ways the three elements are elaborated and interlinked, especially through the imprecise notions of ‘the underdogs’ and ‘the underprivileged’, it also highlights the value of attempting to situate the act of political theorizing in the world at hand by explicitly trying to identify an immanent form of politics thought in terms of a theory of the political and a normative theory, an act that will allow one to go beyond value-neutral political analysis, empty moral theory, or blind political strategizing. Only together do these three elements make up properly political theory.

Keywords:

• Chantal Mouffe
• Ernesto Laclau
• hegemony
• political theory
• populism
• radical democracy
• strategy