O Populismo em Ernesto Laclau: entre democracia e hegemonia

The objective of this thesis is to present the relationship between Antonio Gramsci's (1891-1937) concept of hegemony and Ernesto Laclau's (1935-2014) concept of populism. This general objective and specific objectives will be developed based on the methodology of bibliographical research and the history of concepts (begriffsgeschichte). The thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part I’ll present the development of the concept of hegemony in Antonio Gramsci, using his articles in magazines, the Quaderni and commentators such as Guido Liguori and Carlos Nelson Coutinho. In the second chapter, I’ll develop the concept of populism in Laclau and how the concept of hegemony is received by the author. For this, I use five works: Politics and ideology in Marxist theory (1977); Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (written with Chantal Mouffe in 1985); New Reflections on the Revolution of our time (1989); Emancipations (1996) and On Populist Reason (2005). Finally, in the third chapter, I’ll present some specific questions regarding the relationship that I propose to demonstrate in the main objective. Problems related to the role of the leader, the concept of representation and criticism of the limits of the relationship between Gramsci and Laclau are the main points that articulate the final part of the thesis. Finally, I present the concept of “private apparatuses of hegemony” to compose the thesis as a possible point of articulation between the two theories. The final considerations consist of affirming the expansion of Laclau's populist ideas, but through Gramsci's socialist bias.