Symposium: The Contribution of Laclau’s Discourse Theory to International Relations and International Political EconomyIntroduction

Abstract

This symposium explores the value of Poststructuralist (or Political) Discourse Theory (PDT) for the analysis of world politics. PDT was originally developed by the late Argentine political theorist Ernesto Laclau, in early works together with Chantal Mouffe, and has entered the margins of International Relations (IR) in recent years, mainly by bringing in poststructuralist concepts that had previously been ignored by the more critical strands of theorizing. Against this background, the introduction (1) discusses the disconnect between PDT and research on world politics, primarily in IR, as well as PDT's potential contribution, (2) provides an overview of PDT's central theoretical tenets, in particular with respect to its social ontology and its theoretical concept of change, and (3) introduces the contributions to the symposium.

Finno-Ugric Identity in Estonia: Visual and Discursive Analysis

“…For Laclau, social reality is seen as multiple chains of equivalences ontologically linking specific objects and concepts to each other (Hansen and Sonnichsen 2014, 257). The discursive fixation of the meanings attached to those concepts is feasible only through the appearance of a signifier that linguistically, materially, or visually represents the whole chain (Stengel and Nabers 2019, 259) yet semantically may move from one regime of signification to another. This representation functions through constitutive references to universal norms, principles, or values, yet it can be only provisional and contextual, as those universals are equally dependent on fluctuating references stemming from the political demands of diverse and often competing groups – in the context of this analysis, these groups would be the three loci of state institutions, a nationalist political party, and an enterprising subnational authority.…”

Charisma, populism, and the formation of national identity: Sheikh Mujib and Bengali nationalism

“…In 1960s East Bengal, this constitutive new hegemonic project was that of a new national identity, later vouchsafed as Bengali identity. The three elements that define any ideal‐typical hegemonic project, (1) the construction of a broad range of social demands as equivalent, (2) the articulation of an antagonistic frontier between the self and a radically threatening other and (3) the representation of the totality of equivalent demands by one particular demand (Stengel & Nabers, 2019, pp. 255–257), were quite aptly compiled, by accident if not by design, in the hegemonic project of Bengali nationalism.…”

“…His ideas on the development of political ideas and ideologies, based on the normative ideas of hegemony and discourse, and creating the ontic basis of populism, marks a distinct break from the more essentialist Marxist approach to political analysis. Laclau identifies his work as post‐Marxist (Laclau & Mouffe, 2001, p. 4), while others have also marked it post‐structuralist (Lipping, 2016; Nabers, 2015; Stengel & Nabers, 2019).…”

Das demokratische Paradox, Antagonismus und Agonie der globalen Ordnung: Chantal Mouffes Überlegungen zur internationalen Politik

“…auch das Symposium zu Laclau in der Zs. New Political Science 41(2) sowie darin Stengel und Nabers (2019). 6 Vgl.…”