On this Side of the Frontier: Hegemony, Populism and Pluralism

This paper poses the following questions: What is pluralistic hegemony? Which are its defining features? Can populism be seen to possess them? We draw on Laclau’s thought to examine whether antagonism and “the name of the leader” as an empty signifier are incompatible with pluralism. With reference...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Franzé, Javier, Melo, Julián
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/164371
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/164371
https://doi.org/10.12795/araucaria.2024.i55.07
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Pluralism
Populism
Hegemony
Political Frontier
Laclau
Pluralismo
Populismo
Hegemonía
Frontera Política
Descrição
Resumo:This paper poses the following questions: What is pluralistic hegemony? Which are its defining features? Can populism be seen to possess them? We draw on Laclau’s thought to examine whether antagonism and “the name of the leader” as an empty signifier are incompatible with pluralism. With reference to various different perspectives regarding the relationship between pluralism, hegemony and populism, we present our own particular understanding. Our conceptualization distances itself from the notion that pluralism involves an endless proliferation of difference and the agonistic view that seeks to sublimate antagonism, and also from Laclau’s “the name of the leader” as an archetypal signifier of populism. Rather than the political frontier being the antithesis of pluralism, we see it as its precondition, with the empty signifier not representing a problem in itself, except when its name is pre-given. We perceive pluralism as being open to contingency, as a logic of the production and flow of differences.