Specialization / Direction

Solid and critical understanding of basic concepts of contemporary political theory regarding the different conceptions and forms of 'the political.' Ability to study and process the relevant literature, and to carry out bibliographical research. Ability to develop a critical and original reflection on relevant topics. Ability to write an scientific argumentative essay, which will lay the groundwork for scientific publications.

The 'political' in the thought of the 20th and 21st century refers to the 'differentia specifica' or the fundamental traits of political action as distinct from both other forms of practice and process -social, economic, religious etc.- and from interactions which operate within the institutional framework of the established order. Hence, the 'political' in the thought of Carl Schmitt was bound up with the decision of the sovereign and the friend-enemy distinction, that is, with a fundamental antagonism which sets up political communities, while in the thought of Claude Lefort it is located in the moment of the initial creation and institution of a new social formation. Our main objective is to critically explore and assess different interpretations of the 'political' from the time of Carl Schmitt to date, in the work of thinkers such as Claude Lefort, Michel Foucault, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Giorgio Agamben and Michael Hardt & Toni Negri. Particular emphasis will be laid on the conceptualization of power and sovereignty (biopolitics, postdemocracy, hegemony, voluntary servitude) and on the links between politics and ontology, that is, on how the different conceptions of the political are intertwined and interact with different conceptions of the basic structure of reality, as well as on the new forms of political articulation which emerge in our times (commons, horizontality, post-hegemony).

the political, domination, hegemony, post-hegemony, biopolitics, voluntary servitude, commons

03-05-2023