Discourse theory:
​ways forward for theory development and research practice

Special issue of the Journal of Language and Politics​

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Edited by Benjamin De Cleen, Jana Goyvaerts, Nico Carpentier, Jason Glynos, Yannis Stavrakakis and Ilija Tomanić Trivundža​

​The entire issue can be accessed here.

This special issue of the Journal of Language and Politics considers the past, present and future of discourse theory as a conceptual framework and interdisciplinary research practice that is deployed across a wide range of fields, including political studies, discourse studies, media and communication studies, critical management studies, and policy studies. 

The focus of the special issue is on work inspired by the poststructuralist and post-Marxist discourse theory originally developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe (1985), but one central aim of the special issue is to highlight the interdisciplinarity of discourse theory and the dialogue betweend discourse theory and other traditions. 

There are eleven articles in this special issue. Following the English translation of a text by Ernesto Laclau hitherto only published in French - Politics as the Construction of the Unthinkable - the ten subsequent polemic-programmatic articles reflect on ways forward for discourse theory. 
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The aim being to further discourse theory, the editors' invitation to the authors, originating from different disciplines, was to critically and constructively engage with discourse theory, reflect on its strengths but also its limitations, and to propose paths for future theoretical development as well as for rigorous and innovative research practice.​

Table of contents

1. An introduction to the special issue on ‘Discourse Theory: Ways forward for theory development and research practice’

• Benjamin De Cleen, Jana Goyvaerts, Nico Carpentier, Jason Glynos, Yannis Stavrakakis and Ilija Tomanić Trivundža
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20077.dec

2. Politics as construction of the unthinkable

• Ernesto Laclau (translated by Marianne Liisberg, Arthur Borriello and Benjamin De Cleen)
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20078.lac

3. Moving discourse theory forward

• Benjamin De Cleen, Jana Goyvaerts, Nico Carpentier, Jason Glynos and Yannis Stavrakakis
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20076.dec

4. Discourse, concepts, ideologies

• Michael Freeden
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20051.fre

5. Logics, discourse theory and methods

• Jason Glynos, David Howarth, Ryan Flitcroft, Craig Love, Konstantinos Roussos and Jimena Vazquez
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20048.gly

6. The political nature of fantasy and political fantasies of nature

• Jelle Hendrik Behagel and Ayşem Mert
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20049.beh

7. Critical fantasy studies

• Jason Glynos
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20052.gly

8. Doing justice to the agential material

• Nico Carpentier
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20045.car

9. Towards webs of equivalence and the political nomad in agonistic debate

• Tom Bartlett and Nicolina Montesano Montessori
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20046.bar

10. “Symbolic photographs” as floating and empty signifiers

• Ilija Tomanić Trivundža and Andreja Vezovnik
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20050.tom

11. The (discursive) limits of (left) populism

• Yannis Stavrakakis
• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20047.sta

12. Beyond populism studies

• Benjamin De Cleen and Jason Glynos

• https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20044.dec