Ernesto Laclau and Argentina: Possibilities and Limits of Postneoliberal Populism

Abstract

Purpose of this text is to present some critiques on the theories of Ernesto Laclau on populism, in particular way on those present in La ragione populista. The text is divided essentially in three parts, in the first one I will brefly illustrate the recent story of Argentina as it is fundamental to understand the development of the thought of the Latin American philosopher. In the second part of the essay I will present the main theoretical proposals within La ragione populista. The last part of the text will be dedicated to a close examination of two central elements of Laclau's theory; the minimum unit of analysis chosen (social questions), and the relation between populism and institutions (in particular way after the conquest of the government). Almost the whole texts that I will use, in order to underline some critical issues in the Laclausian's thought, come from the Latin American's framework, which in the last decade could experience merits and limits both on Laclau's thought and on populisms which really exist, or existed, today in Latin America.