Post-Marxist theories of political action :|a critical review of two paradigmatic proposals

Abstract

This thesis aims to provide a preliminary investigation and an evaluation of Post-Marxist theories of political action in the age of globalized capitalism. Given the shifting epistemological and ontological premises, what kind of a proposal does Post-Marxism offer in terms of political action? Is it as liberating as it aspires and claims to be? The answers to these questions are interrogated through an analysis of the works of those authors, who have become most representative of the Post-Marxist position and stand out as the leading figures in shaping the debates in contemporary engagements with the legacy of Marx. Socialist strategy as a discursive struggle for hegemony as articulated in the works of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and the "plea for Leninist intolerance" extended by Slavoj Zizek constitute the two paradigmatic proposals under review. The main hypothesis of this thesis is that for any viable theory of political action the category of the subject and how it is conceptualized plays a crucial role.