Didier Eribon vs. ‘The People’—A Critique of Chantal Mouffe’s Left Populism

Author:

Omlin Pascal Oliver1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Philosophy Department, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria

Abstract

In this article, I develop a critique of Chantal Mouffe’s leftist populism and its construction of ‘the people’ against an opposed ‘them’, from a perspective informed by the thought of Didier Eribon. I draw on both his public interventions and his theoretical work, employing his concepts of return, society as verdict, and his two principles of critical thinking to question the desirability of crafting ‘the people’ in the first place. I contend that Eribon’s critique renders Mouffe’s proposal problematic on three accounts. First, her approach is too politically volatile; its instability leaves it devoid of a critical analysis of the differences between concrete social positions, struggles, and subjectivities within ‘the people’. Consequently, the political becomes merely a function of the social. Yet, the social and its determining power remain mostly unaddressed by her framework. Second, its simplistic opposition of an overly generalised ‘the people’ against ‘the oligarchy’ is susceptible to right-wing populist appropriations. Third, for a shot at hegemony and a general appeal, it eclipses plurality and dissensus within ‘the people’. In contrast, Eribon encourages a connection between the social and the political by suggesting that a self-critical analysis be mutually intertwined with social analysis. Instead of merely mobilising affects, they must be critically interrogated. Instead of summoning ‘the people’, a return to their respective genesis must be attempted. Unless both principles of critical thinking, the insights of return, and societal verdicts are deployed to come to terms with the social determinisms at hand, the ‘people’s’ mobilisation against an opposed ‘them’ risks sacrificing pluralism and equality alike and neglecting the criteria of the desirability of specific changes in favour of a “whatever it costs” attempt at hegemony.

Funder

DOC (Doctoral program of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) stipend of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Publisher

MDPI AG

Reference64 articles.

1. Chantal, M. (2018). For A Left Populism, Verso.

2. Chantal, M. (L’Internationale Dialogues, 2017). Populism. A Dialogue on Art, Representation and Institutions in the Crisis of Democracy. L’Internationale online. A Conversation between Chantal Mouffe and Didier Eribon, L’Internationale Dialogues.

3. Chantal, M. (2024, February 20). In: WFW 2021. Didier Eribon, Chantal Mouffe, Florian Malzacher. The Art of Assembly. Agonistic Gatherings. Wiener Festwochen. (Public Speeches and Discussion between Chantal Mouffe and Didier Eribon hosted by Florian Malzacher). 14 September 2021: 128 min: 17–42, 82–128. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhaYBbCQzXo.

4. Chantal, M. (2013). Agonistics: Thinking the World Politically, Verso.

5. Chantal, M. (2005). On the Political. Routledge.

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