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Laclau and Mouffe: the Radical Democratic Imaginary Is One of the First Booklength Studies of Two of the Most Significant Political Theorists Writing Today

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Laclau and Mouffe: the Radical Democratic Imaginary Is One of the First Booklength Studies of Two of the Most Significant Political Theorists Writing Today LACLAU AND MOUFFE Laclau and Mouffe: The Radical Democratic Imaginary is one of the first booklength studies of two of the most significant political theorists writing today. Anna Marie Smith provides both a clear and accessible overview of the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and a thoughtful and challenging consideration of some of the weaknesses in their work. Throughout, she links their work and criticism of it with some of the key themes in contemporary social and political theory. Anna Marie Smith shows first how the work of Laclau and Mouffe seeks to retrieve the strongest elements of both the liberal democratic and socialist traditions, emphasizing its valuable contribution to radical democratic pluralism. She goes on to show how they have combined the insights of three important currents: Gramsci’s political theory, anti-foundational themes found in post- structuralist theory, and aspects of psychoanalytic theory and how these have been brought to bear on traditional political theory. She demonstrates how Laclau and Mouffe have combined these perspectives to develop a compelling theory of social identity and power relations in contemporary political societies. Laclau and Mouffe: The Radical Democratic Imaginary also considers some of the weaknesses in Laclau and Mouffe’s work. Anna Marie Smith examines their problematic approach to historically structured conditions of political practice and demonstrates that certain themes in their work have been anticipated by critiques in feminist and race theory, lesbian and gay studies and multiculturalism. Underpinning these discussions is careful consideration of the implications these dimensions have for the notions of hegemony, essentialism and power that are central to any understanding of Laclau and Mouffe’s work. Laclau and Mouffe: The Radical Democratic Imaginary provides fresh insights into the work of two key contemporary political theorists; these insights are linked to central concerns in contemporary thought and illustrated by lively discussions of British and American politics. It will be of interest to all those engaged in the study of political and social theory, philosophy, cultural studies and gender studies. 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. LACLAU AND MOUFFE The radical democratic imaginary Anna Marie Smith London and New York First published 1998 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1998 Anna Marie Smith All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Smith, Anna Marie. Laclau and Mouffe: the radical democratic imaginary/Anna Marie Smith. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Democracy. 2. Radicalism. 3. Laclau, Ernesto. 4. Mouffe, Chantal. Political science—History—20th century. I. Title. JC423.S65 1998 321.8’01–dc21 976–53303 CIP ISBN 0-203-00671-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-16076-2 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-10059-3 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-10060-7 (pbk) FOR ZILLAH CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 Retrieving democracy: the radical democratic imaginary 6 2 Essentialism, non-essentialism and democratic leadership: from Lenin to Gramsci 42 3 Subject positions, articulation and the subversion of essentialism 84 4 Self-determination, community and citizenship 116 5 Power and hegemony 151 Conclusion: multicultural difference and the political 177 Notes 203 Bibliography 213 Index 233 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is my pleasure to acknowledge the assistance of the friends and colleagues who made this book possible. I would like to thank Bob Gallagher, formerly of the University of Toronto, and Sue Golding, Greenwich University, for introducing me to Laclau and Mouffe’s work. Juan Maiguashca, York University, generously volunteered to lead me through an independent study course on Laclau and Mouffe’s Hegemony and Socialist Strategy during the spring semester of 1986, when I was a doctoral student in the Department of Political Science, University of Toronto. I drew inspiration as well from Frank Cunningham’s Contemporary Political Philosophy seminar that was held at the University of Toronto at the same time. My deepest thanks to Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe who were my Ph.D. advisors and intellectual mentors when I was a graduate student in Ernesto’s Ideology and Discourse Analysis seminar at the University of Essex, 1987–91, and who read and commented extensively on the manuscript. My writing was influenced by various discussions that were held at the Society for the Humanities during my fellowship there during the 1995–6 academic year. I am particularly indebted to Dominick LaCapra for sharing his work on Lacanian psychoanalysis and to Etienne Balibar for allowing me to attend his seminar on historicity, power and violence. Simon Critchley invited me to write this book and remained an encouraging supporter throughout the project. Lynne Segal, Jeffrey Weeks and Mandy Merck assisted me with my research on the British Left. Zillah Eisenstein challenged me to adopt a more sophisticated grammar vis-à-vis the complexity of contemporary social forces and political practice. Patty Zimmerman encouraged me to consider the contradictory and uneven effects of cultural globalization for democratic theory. Aletta Norval, Peggy Kohn, Paul Apostolidis, Jeannie Morefield, Jodi Dean, Nancy Hirschmann, Alison Shonkwiler, Susan Buck-Morss, Dominick LaCapra, Martin Bernal and Isaac Kramnick read the text and provided valuable comments. Julie Fendo submitted the final draft to editorial treatment in her capacity as my research assistant. Judith Butler and an anonymous reader were especially generous in their detailed critical assessment of the manuscript. Tony Bruce at Routledge remained ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS a patient and helpful correspondent throughout the project. I accept full responsibility for the errors and weaknesses that remain in the text. I would also like to acknowledge the sources of institutional support for this book. My thanks to the Cornell University Humanities Council which provided two grants that allowed me to conduct research in Britain. A faculty fellowship at Cornell’s Society for the Humanities, release from the Department of Government to take up that fellowship and a semester of study leave provided by the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell created favorable conditions for my work. I would also like to thank Verso for kindly granting me permission to quote extensively from the following texts: Ernesto Laclau, Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory: Capitalism, Fascism, Populism (1977), New Reflections of the Revolution of Our Time (1990), Emancipation(s) (1996), Ernesto Laclau (ed.), The Making of Political Identities (1994), Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (1985), Chantal Mouffe, The Return of the Political (1993) and Chantal Mouffe (ed.), Dimensions of Radical Democracy: Pluralism, Citizenship, Community (1992). By dedicating this book to Zillah Eisenstein, I wish to celebrate my love for a wonderful teacher, mentor, straight supporter of lesbian and gay rights, and friend. She is courageously lighting the path so that others may follow. x INTRODUCTION Laclau and Mouffe’s texts should be read as political theory—as an intervention in concrete historical conditions rather than an abstract exercise. In their “Introduction” to Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, Laclau and Mouffe locate their critique of Marxist essentialism by referring to the strategic and theoretical “crisis of the Left.” Writing in the early 1980s, they note that the traditional leftist forces in Western Europe—leftist political parties and the trade union movement—had lost substantial ground while right-wing forces had gained more legitimacy. At the same time, new autonomous movements had emerged to engage in political struggles that had not been adequately addressed by the traditional left. Feminists, peace activists, environmentalists, lesbian and gay activists, and the movements of people of color had radically redefined the very meaning of leftist politics (1985:1–5). Several events have taken place since that time which pose even greater challenges for traditional leftist thought, such as the disintegration of the Soviet Union and its imperial hegemony in Eastern Europe, the unification of Germany, the break-up of Yugoslavia and the war in Bosnia. In the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, the attacks on the welfare state and the trade union movement have continued almost unabated, while the gap between the wealthy and the poor has dramatically increased. At the same time, masses of protestors in Italy, Germany and France have expressed their opposition against the Maastricht Treaty-style cuts in public pensions and health benefits. Although racial and ethnic antagonisms were already prominent in
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