Chantal Mouffe is a Belgian political theorist, who is well known for her agonistic conception of democracy. Currently, a professor of political theory at Westminster University, she and her co-author Ernesto Laclau are also viewed as one of the main points of reference for Podemos‘ political theory.
In her first major publication, Gramsci and Marxist Theory (1979), Chantal Mouffe opened up the critical dialogue with Marxism and the Left which would characterise one of the main thrusts of her work. Her books include Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (co-authored with Ernesto Laclau, 1985), The Return of the Political (1993), Democratic Paradox (2000), On the Political (2005), Agonistics (2013) and, her most recent book, PODEMOS. In the Name of the People (2016). In her work, Chantal Mouffe argues for the necessity of democratic politics acknowledging the partisan character of politics and the crucial role played by passions in the construction of political identities.
Information valid as of spring 2016.