Die Hegemonietheorie als nützliches Instrument für die demokratische Praxis

Für eine pragmatische Interpretation des Verhältnisses von Hegemonietheorie und radikaler Demokratie bei Chantal Mouffe

Abstract

This article is directed against the critique that there is a normative defcit in theory of hegemony by Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau. It aims to show that this claim is ungrounded. The claim implicitly presumes that the normative foundation of the practical project of radical democratic needs to be located in the deconstructivist theory of hegemony itself. Drawing on Mouffes writings on democracy and pluralism, the article demonstrates that Mouffe is not sharing these premise. My purpose is to develop an alternative position which interprets the relation of the theory of hegemony and the practical approach of radical democracy as instrumental and pragmatic. Thereby, it can exhibit that Mouffe recourses to communitarian grounded ethico-political values. For the political implementation of these values, the theory of hegemony can offer some pragmatic implications and therefore should be understand as a useful tool for democratic practice.