1st Edition

Laclau and Mouffe The Radical Democratic Imaginary

By Anna Marie Smith Copyright 1998
    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    246 Pages
    by Routledge

    Laclau and Mouffe: The Radical Democratic Imaginary is the first full-length overview of the important work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Anna Marie Smith clearly shows how Laclau and Mouffe's work has brought Gramscian, poststructuralist and psychoanalytic perspectives to revitalize traditional political theory. With clarity and insight, she shows how they have constructed a highly effective theory of identity formation and power relations that carefully draws from the criticism of political theory from postmodern anti-foundationalist political theory.

    INTRODUCTION; Chapter 1 RETRIEVING DEMOCRACY; Chapter 2 ESSENTIALISM, NON-ESSENTIALISM AND DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP; Chapter 3 SUBJECT POSITIONS, ARTICULATION AND THE SUBVERSION OF ESSENTIALISM; Chapter 4 SELF-DETERMINATION, COMMUNITY AND CITIZENSHIP; Chapter 5 POWER AND HEGEMONY; CONCLUSION; NOTES; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX;

    Biography

    Anna Marie Smith is Assistant Professor of Government at Cornell University. She is the author of New Right Discourse on Race and Sexuality: Britain 1968–1990.

    'an excellent job of explaining an often obscure body of work using case studies and concrete examples to clarify difficult theoretical points.' - New Formations

    'an important contribution to the debates at the centre of contemporary political theory'