Frontiers in Question

This article investigates the theoretical arguments concerning political frontiers as they arise in the work of Laclau and Mouffe. The question of political frontiers emerges in the context of their anti-essentialist, post-Marxist theorisation of the division of political space, the constitution of political antagonism and the individuation of identity. The aricle traces the genealogy of the concept of frontiers through an investigation of its Marxist and non-Marxist intellectual roots. It argues that Laclau and Mouffe conflate two separate questions concerning political identity in their arguments on political frontiers, namely, the individuation of identity and the constitution of antagonistic relations. Through a deconstructive reading, it proposes an alternative conceptualisation which would allow one to retain the important insights offered in their theorisation, while seperating those distinctive questions.This article investigates the theoretical arguments concerning political frontiers as they arise in the work of Laclau and Mouffe. The question of political frontiers emerges in the context of their anti-essentialist, post-Marxist theorisation of the division of political space, the constitution of political antagonism and the individuation of identity. The aricle traces the genealogy of the concept of frontiers through an investigation of its Marxist and non-Marxist intellectual roots. It argues that Laclau and Mouffe conflate two separate questions concerning political identity in their arguments on political frontiers, namely, the individuation of identity and the constitution of antagonistic relations. Through a deconstructive reading, it proposes an alternative conceptualisation which would allow one to retain the important insights offered in their theorisation, while seperating those distinctive questions

The Politics of Homecoming

This paper examines two of the contending fictions of identity in post-election South Africa: that of the far-right and the ANC. It looks at both in terms of their difference from the logic of apartheid, and examines the relation of the fictions of a volkstaat and of non-racialism respectively to the emergence of a democratic space in a post-apartheid South Africa. These questions are developed by drawing on the theoretical discourses of Derrida, Lefort, Žižek and Laclau.This paper examines two of the contending fictions of identity in post-election South Africa: that of the far-right and the ANC. It looks at both in terms of their difference from the logic of apartheid, and examines the relation of the fictions of a volkstaat and of non-racialism respectively to the emergence of a democratic space in a post-apartheid South Africa. These questions are developed by drawing on the theoretical discourses of Derrida, Lefort, Žižek and Laclau

Minoritarian Politics and the Pluralisation of Democracy

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The politics of antagonism

In perhaps the last piece completed before his sudden death in April 2014 ErnestoLaclau returned to the concept of antagonism (Laclau, 2015, pp. 101–125). Itsconceptual origins lie in his immanent critique of, and break with, Marxism in the1970s. Laclau concluded that antagonism points to the limits of social objectivity andlinked this to an original political ontology (see Hansen, 2016 and Marchart, 2016).The development of this concept is, in effect, the story of Laclau’s theoreticaljourney. In tracking this conceptual history I demonstrate its continued pertinence tocontemporary political theory and link it to the rethinking of representation, toidealisation in political theory, and to the understanding of anti-austerity politics

“Writing a Name in the Sky”: Rancière, Cavell, and the Possibility of Egalitarian Inscription

Democratic theory is often portrayed as torn between two moments: that of disruption of rule, and the ordinary, ongoing institutionalization of politics. This dualism also marks contemporary democratic theory. In Jacques Rancière's theory of politics it takes the form of an emphasis on the ruptural qualities of the staging of novel democratic demands and the reconfiguration of the space of political argument. The reconfiguration of existing political imaginaries depends upon a moment of inscription, which remains underdeveloped in Rancière's work. Arguing that the possibility of inscription is indeed thematized in Rancière's more historical writings, but is often ignored by commentators, this article seeks to draw out the implications of a focus on inscription for democratic theory and practice. To flesh out this account, the article draws on Cavell's writings on exemplarity and the role of exemplars in fostering both critical reflection and the imagination of alternatives. The focus on such exemplars and an aversive, nonconformist ethos together facilitate a better understanding of what is required for such novel demands to be acknowledged and inscribed into democratic life.</jats:p

No Reconciliation without Redress: Articulating political demands in post-transitional South Africa

This article investigates the articulation of political demands by Khulumani, a South African a victim support group. The analysis of their demands is situated in the context of their response to the shortcomings of the TRC and the failures of the South African government to live up to their promises and commitments on reparation for victims of gross human rights abuses under apartheid. The article draws on a post-structuralist approach to discourse analysis, in particular on the work of Laclau and Ranci�re, to analyse the processes through which demands appear on the political stage and are articulated in response to other political projects. Concretely it traces out the change from a discourse of ?reconciliation? to one of ?redress?, showing how the latter opens up a new horizon of political imagination and action