The (Too) Small Prince of Left Populism: Rereading Laclau and Mouffe

Abstract

From a theoretical standpoint, this article examines Mouffe’s political project of left populism based on Ernesto Laclau’s theory. It first shows how the distinctiveness of left populism lies in its ability to radicalise democracy. However, the theory of the populist logic developed by Laclau and faithfully adopted by Mouffe tends to impose a series of negative implications on the idea of radicalising democracy originally formulated by the two scholars in the 1980s. The elements of originality are abandoned in favour of a “one-dimensional flattening” of the political. As a result, the very “left” element that should, for Mouffe, be the defining feature of left populism ends up being severely weakened.