Ernesto Laclau

Ernesto Laclau (Spanish: [laˈklaw]; 6 October 1935-13 April 2014) was an Argentine political theorist and philosopher.

Ernesto Laclau (Spanish: [laˈklaw]; 6 October 1935-13 April 2014) was an Argentine political theorist and philosopher.

He also held positions at SUNY Buffalo and Northwestern University, both in the US. == Biography == Laclau studied history at the University of Buenos Aires and was a member of the PSIN (Socialist Party of the National Left) until 1969, when the British historian Eric Hobsbawm supported his admission to St Antony's College, Oxford, where he pursued graduate research until 1972.

He studied history at the University of Buenos Aires Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, graduating with a licenciatura in 1964, and received a PhD from the University of Essex in 1977.

Laclau's early work was influenced by Althusserian Marxism and focused on issues debated within Neo-Marxist circles in the 1970s, such as the role of the state, the dynamics of capitalism, the importance of building popular movements, and the possibility of revolution.

Laclau's early work was influenced by Althusserian Marxism and focused on issues debated within Neo-Marxist circles in the 1970s, such as the role of the state, the dynamics of capitalism, the importance of building popular movements, and the possibility of revolution.

Under his directorship, the Ideology and Discourse Analysis programme has provided a research framework for the development of a distinct type of discourse analysis that draws on post-structuralist theory (especially the work of Saussure, and Derrida), post-analytic thought (Wittgenstein, and Richard Rorty) and psychoanalysis (primarily the work of Lacan) to provide innovative analysis of concrete