ERNESTO LACLAU (1936–2014)

Argentinian theorist Ernesto Laclau has passed away at the age of seventy-eight. The cause of death was a heart attack; an article posted on critical-theory.com notes that Laclau was in good health earlier that day, visiting Seville for a conference with his long-term partner Chantal Mouffe. Mouffe and Laclau coauthored Hegemony and Socialist Strategy in 1985, one of the theorist’s most important books, which developed a theory of radical democracy. He also coauthored books with Judith Butler and Slavoj Zizek and is the author of On Populist Reason, 2005, which explored how the greater public or “the people” could emerge as a collective actor.

Laclau was professor emeritus at the University of Essex as well as a distinguished professor of humanities and rhetorical studies at Northwestern University. He has been based in London since 1969, when he joined Oxford University following an invitation by late British historian Eric Hobsbawm. His work was deeply admired by many influential figures in Argentine politics including President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who believed in his conviction that populist Latin American governments possess the capacity to face corporations. Laclau was a champion of Kirchnerism, a brand of Peronism that opposes neoliberalism while avoiding the extremes of Communism, which was developed by Krichner and her husband. Said Laclau in an interview this past February: “Kirchnerism represents the real left. It is the only political force that is effectively able to confront corporate power.” Mourning his death, philosopher Ricardo Forster said: “He was probably one of the most important Latin American intellectuals of the last century. His absence will be felt because he was one of the greatest emancipatory theorists.”