Between autonomy and representation
Toward a post-foundational discourse analytic framework for the study of horizontality and verticality
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12876992 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Seongcheol Kim (0000-0001-6703-4465, University of Kassel, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 345-360 |
| Publication date | 2022-05-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Discourse Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1740-5904 • E-ISSN: 1740-5912 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17405904.2022.2077397 |
| OpenAlex | W4293249840 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 22 |
This paper sets out to think the relationship between horizontality and verticality from the perspective of post-foundational discourse theory, taking as a starting point the diachronic development from Laclau’s and Mouffe’s joint work on radical democracy to Laclau’s theory of populism. The argument here is that the shift in conceptual terrain from the autonomy of ‘democratic struggles’ to the representative function of ‘empty’ popular signifiers points to deeper shifts and slippages – especially around the category of antagonism – as well as a more general tension between a horizontal politics of autonomy and a vertical politics of representation, for which radical democracy and populism respectively take on a paradigmatic character. While horizontality is predicated on the autonomous multiplicity and ‘multiplication of antagonisms’, verticality entails the simplification and concentration of antagonism around central representative signifiers. The question thus becomes how antagonism is organized, or – drawing on Nonhoff’s concept of contrariety – to what extent the contrarieties defining the constituent parts of an equivalential chain are more multiple or more concentrated. This is followed by empirical considerations on how horizontality and verticality are organizationally mediated within current political projects, including a distinction between movement parties and Volksparteien neuen Typs (‘people’s parties of a new type’)
Argument (complex analysis · Autonomy · Democracy · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Populism · Representation (politics · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · German legal, social, and political studies · Law · Philosophy · Populism, Right-Wing Movements
Distinctions and Articulations
Title unavailable
Movement Parties Against Austerity
The Digital Party
Die Diskursanalyse der Essex School
Die Prekarisierungsgesellschaft. Prekäre Proteste. Politik und Ökonomie im Zeichen der Prekarisierung
Post-Foundational Political Thought
Thinking Antagonism
Von Lefort zu Mouffe. Populismus als Moment und Grenze radikaler Demokratie
Progressive Neoliberalism versus Reactionary Populism
Left-wing populism in the European periphery
Podemos
Radical democracy and left populism after the squares
Radical democracy and collective movements today
The Representative Claim
Political theory in the square
The “Constructivist Turn” in Democratic Representation
The mask and the flag; populism, citizenism and global protest
Right/left in the context of new political frontiers
Post-hegemony
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2025 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |