Search results for "hegemony"

Many Images for a Continent. An Introduction

2021

For too long, the European Union has presented itself as a haven for bureaucrats, united by a hegemonic will practiced through the hyper-standardization of every aspect of social life. The result of this representation, so often weaponised by political forces hostile to the European project, has also been the reason the many images (normative acts, community projects, cultural initiatives etc.) that constitute the European discourse struggle to be recognized and read into a basic everyday narrative capable of shaping a European horizon of shared destinies. This book recognises the importance of the European discourse in its symbolic dimension and the need for it to be circulated via a wide-…

"Mad Men", "Los Soprano" y el "American way of life". Historia del capital en dos tiempos

1970

Don Draper (Mad Men, Matthew Weiner, AMC: 2007-2015) participa del nacimiento y consolidación dela sociedad de consumo sin ser consciente de la gran ficción que intenta creerse. Tony Soprano (TheSopranos, David Chase, HBO: 1999-2007) se agarra desesperadamente a los últimos restos de un idealde superación y esfuerzo que no solo está agotado sino que nunca fue verdaderamente coherente. Estetexto realiza un análisis textual, sociológico y discursivo comparativo de ambas figuras en cuantorepresentativas de la evolución del discurso capitalista en la segunda mitad del siglo XX, es decir, laartificialidad del discurso hegemónico de búsqueda de la felicidad como uno de los grandes mitos delneolib…

Is there a need for a new cultural policy strategy in the Nordic welfare state?

1996

Cultural policies have existed as a structural element of the Nordic welfare states from the very beginning. Today these policies are being re‐evaluated, and there are some indications that they may be gradually dismantled. Local cultural politicians in municipalities (cultural boards) and professionals (e.g. cultural secretaries) have become uncertain and anxious about their future role and legitimacy. This new situation is addressed and analysed by using the ideas of Goffman's on‐and off‐stage representations, and Foucault's governmentality. Important background factors in the development of cultural policies both in the past, present and future are identified and used to explain the pres…

A Reluctant Hero: Hannes Kolehmainen and the Politics of Sporting Fame in Finland

2012

A multiple Olympic champion and pioneer of long-distance running in Finland, Hannes Kolehmainen migrated to the United States after having triumphed at the 1912 Stockholm games. In spite of his working-class credentials that had led to tension prior to Stockhom, the Finnish bourgeois sport authorities adopted him as their hero and literally bought him back from America in the 1920s, soon after Finland had gained independence. Subsequently, a number of prominent observers and scholars have claimed that Kolehmainen's running prowess not only brought the Finnish people together but also contributed to Finland's quest for independence. This essay takes a critical look at the hegemonic understan…

From the Editor in Chief: The Axes for the Modern Age

2020

Farewell to leadership? Ideas of hegemony and counter-hegemony in the Americas

2014

Mainstream International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis have often concentrated on material factors and actors’ preferences, leaving out ideational dynamics. However, US–Latin American relations in general seem fraught with ideas, narratives and historical references re-articulated from time to time on both sides. In his campaign, Barack Obama announced a fresh start of US–Latin American relations, promising to “restore American leadership in Latin America”, at the same time creating “a new partnership for the Americas”, combining two narratives in US–Latin American policy. “Leadership”, enshrined in the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt corollary, which declared Latin America the “…

The new transatlantic agenda: transatlantic security relations between post-hegemonic cooperation and interdependence

2003

The New Transatlantic Agenda: Transatlantic Security Relations Between Post-Hegemonic Cooperation and Interdependence

Ernesto Laclau reading Michel Foucault : Foucault as a target for hegemony

2015

In contrast to the tendency of other presently celebrated post-structuralist intellectuals, such as Giorgio Agamben and up to a certain extent Judith Butler, who make persistent efforts to support their work through the provision of frequent references to the work of Michel Foucault, Ernesto Laclau, the first popular post-structuralist theorist on British soil, opted to provide only a few references to Foucault, which actually were not always equally approbatory of the latter’s work. By drawing attention to these few references, this article aims to thematize Laclau’s relationship with Foucault as a quite interesting case for the understanding of present-day flows in the exchange of ideas o…

Fixing meaning

2012

This contribution looks into a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin after the terrorist attack against a high school in the Northern Caucasian town Beslan in September 2004, widely seen as marking the end of the liberal hegemony in the Russia of the post-soviet period. However, a closer look reveals the many possible readings that are made of the speech. According to the reactions found in a corpus of press articles, the speech activates both “internationalist” and “sovereignist” readings in media discourse. By pointing out the polyphonic organization of discourse, I make the case for a productive exchange between the French tradition of discourse analysis, interactionism and critical…

The Politics of Explanatory Nationalism and the Evolution of the United Nations Agenda on Multinational Enterprises

2020

The contemporary world continues to suffer from a number of social problems that are global in scope but impact the Global South disproportionately. While broad and coordinated policy responses to overcome these problems exist, such policies are not shaped solely by the political will to address the problems. On the contrary, their content largely depends on how societies in general and the social problems in particular are routinely explained and conceptualized. We refer to these as explanatory tendencies or paradigms of explanation. As complex problems always have multiple root causes with long causal chains, explanations of these causes necessarily involve some assumptions about relevant…