Post‐Marxist Project: An Assessment and Critique of Ernesto Laclau

The writings of Ernesto Laclau are an important contribution to various efforts over the last decade and a half to move beyond or resolve a theoretical impasse in Marxist thought and analysis. In Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, co‐authored with Chantelle Mouffe and published in 1985, Laclau seeks to establish a post‐Marxist form of analysis that takes a theoretical position “within Marxism.” It is argued that post‐Marxism as formulated by Laclau is an abandonment, not a renewal, of Marxist thought and that as such it is part of a long tradition of idealist anti‐Marxist criticism that should be rejected for its theoretical flaws and misplaced criticism.