Towards a Green Democratic Revolution: Left Populism and the Power of Affects

Description

In recent years, the promises of the populist moment have faltered, as seen in the defeats of Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, Jean-Luc Melenchon. In addition, the pandemic has brought about a strong need for protection, creating a favorable terrain for authoritarian forms of politics. This new situation represents a challenge for the left, whose rationalism and modernist idea of progress is rightly suspicious of such demands. How, therefore, can the left deal with the economic, social and ecological crisis that the pandemic has brought to the fore? Chantal Mouffe argues that the left should not underestimate the importance of affects when developing a strategy for political change. In fact, after years of 'post-politics', we are witnessing a 'return of the political'. And in response Mouffe proposes the creation of a broad coalition of movements under the banner of a 'Green Democratic Revolution'. This entails the protection of society and its material conditions in a way that empowers people instead of making them retreat in a defensive nationalism or in a passive acceptance of technological solutions. It is protection for the many, not the few, providing social justice and fostering solidarity. The Power of Affects is a bold rallying cry for political organisation in the post-pandemic era.

Chantal Mouffe is the Professor of Political Theory at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster. Her books include Gramsci and Marxist Theory, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (with Ernesto Laclau), Dimensions of Radical Democracy, The Return of the Political, The Democratic Paradox, On the Political, Agonistics, and the highly acclaimed For a Left Populism.

Mouffe is unrepentant. Her new book, Towards a Green Democratic Revolution, maintains that left populism is more relevant than ever in light of climate breakdown and the Covid pandemic. -- Oliver Eagleton * New Statesman * Praise for For a Left Populism * : * Influencing left parties as they enter government, from Greece to Portugal to Mexico. It is a beach-sized introduction to a major left thinker of the twenty-first century. -- Paul Mason * Guardian * An admirable attempt to get us thinking again about what a worthwhile politics might look like, one based on notions of equality, ecology, sovereignty, solidarity and social justice -- Gavin Jacobson * New Statesman * Refreshingly bereft of the sputtering outrage and bafflement that characterizes the growing genre of liberal self-help books, Mouffe channels populism's agonistic clarity -- Thea Riofrancos * n+1 * Praise for Agonistics * : * Mouffe represents a position that every serious student of contemporary political thought must acknowledge and come to terms with * Philosopher's Magazine *