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A political theorist educated at the universities of Louvain, Paris, and Essex, Chantal Mouffe is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Westminster. She has taught at many universities in Europe, North America and Latin America, and has held research positions at Harvard, Cornell, the University of California, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. Between 1989 and 1995 she was Directrice de Programme at the College International de Philosophie in Paris.

Read the CSD Bulletin interview with Chantal Mouffe, click here.

Read Articulated Power Relations - Markus Miessen in conversation with Chantal Mouffe,pdf file easy to download here- Original source: here

Publications

Professor Mouffe is the editor of Gramsci and Marxist Theory, Dimensions of Radical Democracy, Deconstruction and Pragmatism, and The Challenge of Carl Schmitt; co-author (with Ernesto Laclau) of Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (1985); and author of The Return of the Political (1993), and The Democratic Paradox (2000). Her latest work is On the Political published by Routledge in 2005.

She is currently elaborating a non-rationalist approach to political theory; formulating an 'agonistic' model of democracy; and engaged in research projects on the rise of right-wing populism in Europe and the place of Europe in a multipolar world order.

Read Articulated Power Relations - Markus Miessen in conversation with Chantal Mouffe. 

Original source: here

Research Projects

• "The Space of Democracy and the Democracy of Space" For more info click here.

• "Towards an agonistic multipolar world" For more info click here.

MA Modules

Professor Mouffe is module leader of the CSD MA modules The State, Politics and Violence and Current Issues in Democratic Theory.

On the Political

By Chantal Mouffe
Routledge, 2005, 144 pages

Since September 11th, we frequently hear that political differences should be put aside: the real struggle is between good and evil. What does this mean for political and social life? Is there a 'Third Way' beyond left and right, and if so, should we fear or welcome it?

This thought-provoking book by Chantal Mouffe, a globally recognized political author, presents a timely account of the current state of democracy, affording readers the most relevant and up-to-date information.

Arguing that liberal 'third way thinking' ignores fundamental, conflicting aspects of human nature, Mouffe states that, far from expanding democracy, globalization is undermining the combative and radical heart of democratic life.

Going back first to Aristotle, she identifies the historical origins of the political and reflects on the Enlightenment, and the social contract, arguing that in spite of its good intentions, it levelled the radical core of political life.

Contemporary examples, including the Iraq war, racism and the rise of the far right, are used to illustrate and support her theory that far from combating extremism, the quest for consensus politics undermines the ability to challenge it. These case studies are also highly effective points of reference for student revision.

On the Political is a stimulating argument about the future of politics and addresses the most fundamental aspects of democracy that will aid further study.

Reviews

'Clear, direct and accessible...Mouffe represents a position that every serious student of of contemporary political thought must acknowledge and come to terms.' - The Philosophers' Magazine

'An excellent book. It is very clear, straight to the point and with a minimum amount of jargon. Its succinctness, clarity and contemporary relevance should ensure its success.' - Donald Sassoon, Queen Mary and Westfield College

'Carries a clear, relevant and provocative message. It is likely to stir up an important debate.' - Jacob Torfing, Roskilde University

Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Politics and the political
Chapter 2: Beyond the adversarial model?
Chapter 3: Current challenges to the post-political vision
Chapter 4: Which world order: Cosmopolitan or Multipolar?
Conclusion
Bibliography

Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics

By Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe
Verso , 240 pages

How is the present crisis of left-wing thought to be understood? To what extent does it call into the question the idea of social totality that underpinned Marxism and many other socialist theories? Does the concept of hegemony imply a new logic that goes beyond the essentialism of classical Marxist thought?

These are some of the questions that this now seminal book attempts to answer. It traces the genealogy of the present crisis, from the nineteenth-century debates to the contemporary emergence of new forms of struggle, making it a classic text both for understanding hegemony and for focusing on present social struggles and their significance for democratic theory.

The Democratic Paradox

By Chantal Mouffe
Verso - 2000, 192 pages

From the theory of 'deliberative democracy' to the politics of the 'third way', the present state of politics is characterized by attempts to deny what Mouffe contends is the inherently conflictual nature of democratic politics. Far from being signs of progress, such ideas constitute a serious threat to democratic institutions. Taking issue with John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas on one side, and the political tenets of Blair, Clinton, and Schröder on the other, Mouffe brings to the fore the paradoxical nature of modern liberal democracy in which the category of the 'adversary' plays a central role. She draws on the work of Wittgenstein, Derrida, and the provocative theses of Carl Schmitt, to propose a new understanding of democracy that acknowledges the ineradicability of antagonism in its workings.

The Challenge of Carl Schmitt

Edited By Chantal Mouffe
Verso - 1999, 256 pages

Carl Schmitt's thought serves as a warning against the dangers of complacency entailed by triumphant liberalism. His conception of politics is a sharp challenge to those who believe that there is a third way between the left and right and that the increasing moralization of political discourse constitutes a great advance for democracy. Schmitt reminds us forcefully that the essence of politics is struggle and that the distinction between friend and enemy cannot be abolished.

Contributions: Gregoris Ananiadis, Agostino Carrino, Catherine Colliot-Thélène, Jorge Dotti, David Dyzenhaus, Paul Hirst, Jean-François Kervégan, Chantal Mouffe, Ulrich Preuss, Slavoj Zizek and an important essay by Carl Schmitt available in English for the first time.

The Return of the Political

By Chantal Mouffe
Verso - 2005 (1994), 240 pages

An original and powerful statement which enables us to close the widening gap between liberal democracy and the events of a disordered world.

Praise for Chantal Mouffe
“Evocative and challenging.” -  Radical Democracy
“An indispensable read.” - Harvard Educational Review

Politics and Passions: the Stakes of Democracy

By Chantal Mouffe
Centre for the Study of Democracy, 2002

For some time I have been concerned with what I see as our growing inability to envisage in political terms the problems facing our societies: that is, to see them as problems the solutions to which entail not just technical but political decisions. These decisions would be made between real alternatives, the existence of which implied the presence of conflicting but legitimate projects of how to organize our common life. We appear to be witnessing not the end of history but the end of politics. Is this not the message of recent trends in political theory and sociology, as well as of the practices of mainstream political parties?

They all claim that the adversarial model of politics has become obsolete and that we have entered a new phase of reflexive modernity, one in which an inclusive consensus can be built around a ‘radical centre’. All those who disagree with this consensus are dismissed as archaic or condemned as evil. Morality has been promoted to the position of a master narrative; as such, it replaces discredited political and social discourses as a framework for collective action. Morality is rapidly becoming the only legitimate vocabulary: we are now urged to think not in terms of right and left, but of right and wrong.

Politics and Passions: the stakes of democracy (2002),download it here.