A discussion of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (London: Verso, 1985).

Today in advanced capitalist societies there is a rift between radical theory and radical politics, caused by the twin crises of socialism and Marxism. Socialism as model and Marxism as a theoretical approach are unattractive because of the authoritarianism of existing socialist societies, because Marxism's designated revolutionary agent - the working class - does not act as a class, and because many of today's radical issues - nuclear war, ecology, feminism, gay liberation - have not been compellingly addressed within the socialist tradition. Neither socialism nor Marxism offers an integrative vision for many activists in today's new social movements. Marxism creatively informs work within various academic…