Towards a Renovation of the Laclauian Paradigm

Abstract

This article provides a renovation of Ernesto Laclau’s theories of political competition and collective identity-building for their better application at an empirical level. It does so not as a critique but as a way to make the Laclauian approach more operational and rigorous from a methodological perspective. The key goal is to make available a form of discourse analysis that centers on the political sphere and has two key characteristics. The first is an emphasis on the role of what Antonio Gramsci called “organic ideologies” in political identity-building. The second is the differentiation between a descriptive and a subjective level of analysis. The article intends to initiate a debate on the prospects of the Laclauian approach both with its advocates and its detractors.