Chantal Mouffe, 'Agonistics. Thinking the World Politically'.

• Author: Trif, Dana S.
• Position: Book review

Chantal Mouffe, "Agonistics. Thinking the World Politically," London and New York, Verso (201f3)

The critique of rationalism and universalism has ushered in a powerful alternative to the evaluation of political practices. Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's Post-Marxist Discourse Theory continues to dominate the academic literature with its masterful deconstruction/interpretation of Gramscian thought. This particular strand of contemporary political theory distinguishes itself from its rationalist/deliberative counterpart by emphasizing the critical importance of identity and processes of political identification, which can never offer a complete closure to the Real or, put differently, an unchanging image of society. On these shifting societal grounds political demands and identity-based coalitions will always stage a competition not only over resources, but also over the definition of the "we," a community's collective identity.

Agonistics. Thinking the World Politically is Chantal Mouffe's latest book. Published in 2013, this collection of essays reviews and updates some of Mouffe's previous public lectures and conferences on the topics of Agonism and democratic politics. Agonistics does not bring in that sense anything new to the table, but clarifies key concepts of Chantal Mouffe's thought and evaluates the significance of her approach for several contemporary issues relevant for the European Left. Rejoining contemporary discussions about the nature of the political and politics, Mouffe justifies her conviction that democracy can be redefined in a way more suitable to man's basic impulses. The book explores Mouffe's version of agonistic theory by setting it apart from other variants (Chapter 1), putting forward the thesis that hegemonic orders are inevitable and analyzing its consequences for international relations (Chapter 2), assessing the potential for agonistic democracy in the European Union (Chapter 3), offering a critique of the Italian school of radical politics (Chapter 4), and advocating the emancipatory role of artistic practices, which can foster change in the context of agonistic politics (Chapter 5).

Chantal Mouffe's approach to Agonism posits as central the concept of antagonism. Grounding her theory on the assumption of antagonism's ineradicability, Mouffe redefines democratic politics as agonistic pluralism. She fleshes out in this way her own political project by offering a 'metaphoric redescription' of liberal...