Cette thèse concerne la pensée de trois auteurs qui s’interrogent quant à la manière dont les philosophes politiques devraient procéder pour en arriver à comprendre et à juger les phénomènes politiques de manière adéquate : Raymond Geuss, Chantal Mouffe et Pierre Manent. Plus spécifiquement, elle se propose d’étudier les critiques que ces derniers dirigent à l’endroit de l’approche dominante en philosophie politique contemporaine et qui est à leur avis le mieux exemplifiée par l’œuvre de John Rawls. Aux yeux de ces derniers, cette approche, qui consiste essentiellement à s’engager dans une réflexion abstraite sur la nature de la justice définie comme l’ensemble des droits politiques dont les citoyens devraient légitimement pouvoir jouir, souffre d’un important manque de réalisme, c’est-à-dire qu’elle reflète très peu la délibération dans laquelle les citoyens et les hommes politiques doivent concrètement s’engager pour faire face aux problèmes politiques réels. Dans un premier temps, l’auteur expose les objections que Geuss, Mouffe et Manent formulent contre la philosophie rawlsienne et il présente les fondements de la pensée de ces trois auteurs. Il s’efforce ensuite de vérifier si leur critique du normativisme abstrait en philosophie politique nous permet toujours de penser un certain fondement aux jugements politiques.

Tesis (magíster en derecho con mención en derecho público) / El feminismo como teoría crítica y movimiento social tiene siglos de historia. Con vaivenes, con sus conquistas y sus retrocesos, la teoría feminista ha logrado insertar en el orden social una reflexión y acción frente a la dominación masculina, siempre desde la producción teórica consciente y polémica. En esa lid se inserta este trabajo, cuyo propósito es aportar elementos teóricos para la construcción del sujeto político del feminismo, en una perspectiva institucional; es decir, desde el Estado. Para ello, se desarrolla una aproximación al sujeto del feminismo que reúne las aportaciones de los feminismos liberal, radical, postmoderno y postestructuralista, con el objeto de reconocer subjetividades nuevas, distintas y cambiantes, a partir de las cuales insertar el feminismo en el Estado. Ello se compromete con dos cuestiones que están presentes a lo largo de todo este trabajo: por un lado, la importancia de la dimensión polémica en la construcción de las identidades colectivas –de allí la necesidad de detenernos en el dominio de lo político– y, por otro, el desafío de traer estas diversas formas de vida, envueltas en la categoría mujeres, a una forma jurídica. Con el afán de formular una alternativa teórica al segundo de los compromisos señalados, se propone una lectura de la noción de movimiento teorizada por el jurista alemán Carl Schmitt en 1933. / Proyecto FONDECYT regular no.11160037

The aim of following thesis is to demonstrate the potentials of reassessing camp into a question of method. While others have argued for the definition of camp to lie in: an aesthetic; a question of taste; the extravagant theatrical; the male gay sensibility; or as an expression of parody, this thesis suggests that camp is to be found in the performative act of readings. With emphasis on ‘decoding language’, ‘the signifier/signified’ and ‘the camp eye’ I will argue for the relevance of ‘camp as method’ and situate former stated in relation to Bhabha’s concept of ‘conversational art’; a deconstructional examination of values of aesthetic experiences set into dialogue. Demonstrating for such conceptualization three theoretical approaches and themes will be outlined. First, a historical overview of camp followed by a reassessment of camp into a method. Second, an examination of possible extensions to the concept of rereading strategies within camp, including theories on queer phenomenology; queer space and time; topias and non-places; theories of curatorial methods and its agencies. And last, I will do an analysis of Moyra Davey’s video Hemlock Forest and show how Davey’s use and reference towards Chantal Akerman can be read as camp and constitutes ‘camp as method’ according to suggested reassessment.

I denne opgave undersøges diskursen hos lærere og ledere i forbindelse med lærerkonflikten i Danmark i 2013. Med en diskursanalytisk tilgang inspireret af Chantal Mouffe og Ernesto Laclau undersøges lederartikler i fagbladene Plenum og Folkeskolen før, under og efter konflikten. En analyse af den retoriske situation og et særligt fokus på metaforer, som udtryk for såkaldte strukturelle landskaber, supplerer den diskursanalytiske metode. I en sammenfattende diskussion af analysens resultater vurderes forskellige udtryk for hegemoni indenfor diskurserne. Hvor skolelederne tydeligt skelner mellem skolereform og overenskomstforhandlinger gør lærerne det ikke. Lærernes og skoleledernes forskellige diskurser forholder sig ikke direkte antagonistisk til hinanden, men skaber til gengæld basis for en fremtidig selvstændig organisering for lederene udenfor Danmarks Lærerforening. / This study examines the discourses of teachers and principals regarding the teacher’s conflict in Denmark 2013. The methodological approach inspired by Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau examines editorials published by the unions (Danmarks Lærerforening and Skolelederforeningen) before, during and after the conflict. Furthermore metaphorical concepts and the rhetorical situation are subjects of analysis. Finally the results of the analysis are discussed in regard to aspects of Mouffe and Laclau´s theories on hegemony.

Muslims and islam are unquestionably a part of European social life. In recent times, however, different events, such as the enlargement of the EU and the fact that muslims to a higher extent demand their rights, have brought a number of questions to the fore concerning muslims and islam in Europe. Moreover, we can see an increasing level of islamophobia in contemporary Europe, but also that the EU has launched several programs to increase both the diversity and the unity throughout the Union and to combat islamophobia. However, most of these programs focus on islam as religion and muslims in general, and such a narrow viewpoint runs the risk of missing important issues. In this new context it would be interesting to widen the scope and ask what place not only the muslim community and islam, but also sharia (an important element in islam), may have in future Europe – especially when it comes to muslim identity? My main objects are to see how the concept of sharia is constructed in the debates in the European Parliament, how that discourse relates to a social practice – the increasing islamophobic ideas in Europe – and what effect this may have on muslim identity in a European context. The results shows that the Parliament constructs sharia as, for example, something archaic, threatening, inhuman and misogynistic. In that sense, the discourse fits in with the predominant order of discourse regarding islam and muslims (in Europe) – and strengthen it. Though my results are neither absolute nor uniform, they show, persuasively enough, that sharia (as it is seen by the Parliament) is not consistent with and can not be included in or accepted by “European norms and values”. However, this must be said with one reservation: sharia is not always excluded as a whole. Still, it is not difficult to maintain that it is sharia as such that activates the (negative and) excluding connotations. Thus, an “approved” European muslim identity, as it seems, can not have too close connections with sharia, if (any) at all. Moreover, there is a risk that muslims themselves take on a restricting practice concerning their identity. In all, this will to a large extent circumscribe the possible muslim identities in Europe. To form a substantial and really pluralistic diversity in Europe, the EU, and others, must liberate itself from the logic of these discourses. But this is not an easy thing to do. One way that might be profitable, is to challenge the prevailing discourse with new narratives – narratives and voices that for the most part must come from the muslims themselves. Despite the fact that these voices do exist, as has been shown, the question is how and under what circumstances they can be seen – or rather heard. Unfortunately the answer is not to be found in this thesis; the need of further research is obvious.

Muslims and islam are unquestionably a part of European social life. In recent times, however, different events, such as the enlargement of the EU and the fact that muslims to a higher extent demand their rights, have brought a number of questions to the fore concerning muslims and islam in Europe. Moreover, we can see an increasing level of islamophobia in contemporary Europe, but also that the EU has launched several programs to increase both the diversity and the unity throughout the Union and to combat islamophobia. However, most of these programs focus on islam as religion and muslims in general, and such a narrow viewpoint runs the risk of missing important issues. In this new context it would be interesting to widen the scope and ask what place not only the muslim community and islam, but also sharia (an important element in islam), may have in future Europe – especially when it comes to muslim identity? My main objects are to see how the concept of sharia is constructed in the debates in the European Parliament, how that discourse relates to a social practice – the increasing islamophobic ideas in Europe – and what effect this may have on muslim identity in a European context. The results shows that the Parliament constructs sharia as, for example, something archaic, threatening, inhuman and misogynistic. In that sense, the discourse fits in with the predominant order of discourse regarding islam and muslims (in Europe) – and strengthen it. Though my results are neither absolute nor uniform, they show, persuasively enough, that sharia (as it is seen by the Parliament) is not consistent with and can not be included in or accepted by “European norms and values”. However, this must be said with one reservation: sharia is not always excluded as a whole. Still, it is not difficult to maintain that it is sharia as such that activates the (negative and) excluding connotations. Thus, an “approved” European muslim identity, as it seems, can not have too close connections with sharia, if (any) at all. Moreover, there is a risk that muslims themselves take on a restricting practice concerning their identity. In all, this will to a large extent circumscribe the possible muslim identities in Europe. To form a substantial and really pluralistic diversity in Europe, the EU, and others, must liberate itself from the logic of these discourses. But this is not an easy thing to do. One way that might be profitable, is to challenge the prevailing discourse with new narratives – narratives and voices that for the most part must come from the muslims themselves. Despite the fact that these voices do exist, as has been shown, the question is how and under what circumstances they can be seen – or rather heard. Unfortunately the answer is not to be found in this thesis; the need of further research is obvious.

This thesis argues that the end of Soviet Marxism and a bipolar global political imaginary at the dissolution of the short Twentieth Century poses an obstacle for anti-systemic political action. Such a blockage of alternate political imaginaries can be discerned by reading the work of Francis Fukuyama and "Endism" as performative invocations of the closure of political alternatives, and thus as an ideological proclamation which enables and constrains forms of social action. It is contended that the search through dialectical thought for a competing universal to posit against "liberal democracy" is a fruitless one, because it reinscribes the terms of teleological theories of history which work to effect closure. Rather, constructing a phenomenological analytic of the political conjuncture, the thesis suggests that the figure of messianism without a Messiah is central to a deconstructive reframing of the possibilities of political action - a reframing attentive to the rhetorical tone of texts. The project of recovering the political is viewed through a phenomenological lens. An agonistic political distinction must be made so as to memorialise the remainders and ghosts of progress, and thus to gesture towards an indeconstructible justice which would serve as a horizon for the articulation of an empty universal. This project is furthered by a return to a certain phenomenology inspired by Cornelius Castoriadis, Claude Lefort, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Ernesto Laclau. The thesis provides a reading of Jacques Derrida and Walter Benjamin as thinkers of a minor universalism, a non-prescriptive utopia, and places their work in the context of new understandings of religion and the political as quasi-transcendentals which can be utilised to think through the aporias of political time in order to grasp shards of meaning. Derrida and Chantal Mouffe's deconstructive critique and supplement to Carl Schmitt's concept of the political is read as suggestive of a reframing of political thought which would leave the political question open and thus enable the articulation of social imaginary significations able to inscribe meaning in the field of political action. Thus, the thesis gestures towards a form of thought which enables rather than constrains action under the sign of justice.

This thesis investigates the counter-hegemonic formation of Danish-based transnational feminist curatorial collective Kuratorisk Aktion in a single-case study. It serves as a unique example, presenting how the collective engages to overcome the existing gap between curatorial aims and the implementation through curating. Their work and approach is shaped highly by their political mindset, aiming to resist tendencies of depoliticisation, right-wing populism or neoliberalism with the means of curating. Chantal Mouffe’s theory of radical democracy and her deliberations and notions concerning agonisms, citizenship, feminism, counter-hegemonic interventions and activism through art are used in order to contextualise and discuss the possibilities and limitations of the political work by Kuratorisk Aktion. An interview with the collective conducted by scholar Angela Dimitrakaki in 2010 as well as their realised curatorial projects enhanced the argumentation. The analysis exemplified, that over the years Kuratorisk Aktion has developed their personal and exceptional curatorial paradigm, which is able to counteract hegemonic structures. This reveals their radical democratic potential and aspiration through curating and the curatorial.

This thesis shows how democratic politics requires a commitment to pluralism as engagement and encounter of the other in their otherness. I contend that it is necessary to commit to such an idea of pluralism because of the problem of incomplete understanding. I establish this premise by drawing on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s account of human finitude. Based on this premise, I argue that the instantiation of Gadamer’s principle of openness leads democratic politics to pluralism as engagement and encounter of the other. Further, I develop accounts of asymmetric reciprocity, reflexivity, and agonism as modes of democratic politics that instantiate the principle of openness. In chapter 1, I establish discourse as a necessary element for democratic politics by drawing from the way Jurgen Habermas uses ‘discourse ethics’ to address the problems of understanding in plural societies. In chapter 2, I demonstrate how incomplete understanding poses a problem for discourse and gives rise to interpretive conflicts by drawing from Gadamer’s account of human finitude. Here I also develop an account of openness as a suitable principle for beings with incomplete understanding based on Gadamer’s idea of hermeneutical experience. In chapters 3-5, I develop accounts of asymmetric reciprocity, reflexivity, and agonism as modes of democratic politics that instantiate the principle of openness. I do so by drawing from Iris Young’s, John Dryzek’s, and Chantal Mouffe’s approaches to the problems that plurality poses to discourse ethics and democratic politics.

This thesis project explores the question of the death of architecture; the declaration of the lost abilities of architecture to achieve political influence and the architect as a social actor. As I have found myself in agreement with this Tafurian perspective on the subject, I wanted to use this thesis project to explore the question of architecture and its political potential, as well as breaking from the paralyzing condition of the incentives of architecture's incapabilities. This, in suggesting that architecture can act as a catalyst for doing things differently. The project investigates, on the one hand,  how a building can encourage political action and engagement, and, on the other, how ideological ideas and intentions can concretize spatially, materially and aesthetically, The project is an design exploration concretized in a specific architectural proposal – a building for a political organization operating in the city of Stockholm.