Ethnicity, left-wing essentialism and radical democracy. In memory of Ernesto Laclau and his work with Chantal Mouffe

Abstract:

This paper applies the criticism of left-wing class essentialism that Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe made in their book Hegemony and Socialist Strategy to the ethnic essentialism imposed on the political agendas of Latin American social movements in recent decades, and proposes a reading of the impact of this essentialism on the conflict between the government of Rafael Correa and the left opposition. From the concerns of Laclau and Mouffe in investigating the roots of left-wing authoritarianism, the article shows some of the coincidences that ethnic essentialism has with authoritarian traditions which, throughout the twentieth century, imposed the criteria of a class defined in a essential way. Among the contemporary consequences of ethnic essentialism, the paper emphasises the emergence of new forms of racism that weaken the building of grassroots political projects and reinforce the exclusion …

Año de publicación:

2016

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Fuente:

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