Publikationer

“Tragedy, then Farce: Slavoj Žižek’s Theory of Populism”, Crisis & Critique, (2025), vol. 12, no. 1, ss. 324-341. ISSN: 2311-5475.

Slavoj Žižek is frequently portrayed as the paradigmatic anti- populist thinker. Yet he is also routinely criticized for endorsing populist causes in contemporary politics, not least after his infamous remarks concerning Donald Trump during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This article aims to approach this supposed contradiction by examining Žižek’s theory of populism. Rather than reading his debate with Ernesto Laclau as primarily a confrontation between reformist populism and revolutionary communism, the article approaches it as a fundamental disagreement over therelationship between theory and political practice. Through a close reading of Žižek’s engagement with Laclau, the analysis reveals how Žižek critiques what he perceives as a fetishistic tendency in Laclau’s thought which ultimately produces a deficient account of universalization
and results in the domestication of the constitutive negativity marked by the Lacanian objet a.

“Ambassadören: Opålitlig sofist eller fredsbevarande förhandlare?”, i [reds.] Ekeman, K., Gorgis, M., Lalér, T., & Mehrens, P. Retoriska typer, ss. 211-252. (Uppsala: URS/SRU, 2025).

År 427 f.v.t., kort efter att ett inbördeskrig brutit ut på Sicilien, tog sig Gorgias till Aten. Han gjorde detta för att, i egenskap av sändebud, söka stöd i försvaret av sin hemstad Leontini efter att det mäktigare Syrakusa hade gått till militärt angrepp. Förutom att ha varit en viktig milstolpe i etablerandet av Gorgias ryktbarhet kan vi i denna resa se ett tidigt exempel på diplomatins och retorikens gemensamma historia.

“Retorikens värde: Kan retoriken tänka det nya?”, Rhetorica Scandinavica 89, (2024), ss.86-102. DOI: 10.52610/rhs.v28i29.315. ISSN: 1397-0534.

Denna artikel tar sin utgångspunkt i hur retoriken under moderniteten beskrivs som ett hot mot föreställningsförmågan och det genialiska ska-pandet i syfte att kunna ställa frågan om retorikens förmåga att tänka det nya. Mot denna splittring av den retoriska traditionen vänds sedan blicken mot strukturalismens reintegrering av retoriken, hur denna har grundats i en dunkel relation mellan språkligt och ekonomiskt värde samt hur i syn-nerhet Ernesto Laclau har hanterat denna fråga. Via Laclaus begrepp den tomma betecknaren och Marx dito den allmänna ekvivalenten utreds sedan tre potentiella läsningar av Laclaus teori om retoricitet och språkligt skapande. Genom dessa läsningar framträder risken med att modellera en språk- och retoriksyn på värdeformen, inte minst eftersom ett otillräckligt erkännande av denna modell också potentiellt underminerar Laclaus begrepp om retoricitet.

"The Exemplary Rhetor: On Anti-Philosophy and Sophistics in Alain Badiou”, Distinctio: Journal of Intersubjective Studies, (2023), vol. 2, no. 2, ss.85-110. DOI: 10.56550/d.2.2.4. ISSN: 2939-0826.

This article investigates the ambiguous status of rhetoric, situated between proper philosophy and mere sophistry, through Alan Badiou’s three exemplary f igures of thought: the philosopher, the anti-philosopher, and the sophist. With the recent return of the sophist in politics in the form of populist politicians, contemporary rhetorical studies have expressed a need for the discipline to reconsider its alliance with relativist sophistics. However, by studying Badiou’s three exemplary f igures, and relating them to his understanding of the three forms of negation, the article explores a possible rift between sophistical rhetoric and anti-philosophical populism that complicates prevalent understandings of the relationship between rhetoric, phi-losophy, and sophistics. Finally, the article brings up some issues concerning how to f it exemplarity in general, and the three exemplary f igures in particular, into the framework of Badiou’s entire philosophy and discusses how to potentially counter-act these limitations.

“From Communist Ideology to the Idea of Communism: Transformations in Žižek’s Notion of Communism”, Filozofski vestnik, (2023), vol. 44, no. 1, ss.53-73. DOI: 10.3986/fv.44.1.03. ISSN: 0353-4510.

This article approaches a potential tension in the work of Slavoj Žižek between his cri-tique of communist ideology and his endorsement of the communist idea. The aim is to show how this endorsement, in effect, emerged out of Žižek’s sustained engagement with communist ideology. The article captures this transformation by focusing on his understanding of the notion of the idea and the ways in which ideology can be trans-gressed. The conclusion drawn is that in moving from a Kantian to a Hegelian notion of the idea, Žižek also leaves behind his initial Beckettian Leninism in favor of an under-standing of revolution that no longer depends on the heroic act of a subject, but on the immanent logic of the communist idea.

“Ironier och katakreser – Populismens logik eller kommunismens idé?”, Rhetorica Scandinavica 85, (2023) ss.1-20. DOI: 10.52610/rhs.v27i85.88. ISSN: 1397-0534.

“’I would prefer not to’; or – Who’s afraid of Hegel? Protagoras and Parrhêsia”, S: Journal of the Circle for Lacanian Ideology Critique 13, (2022), ss. 46-62. ISSN: 1874-9062.

“Autonomous Politics: Imaginary and Imagination in Doxology”, i [red.] Bengtson E. et al., Shadows in the Cave – Revisiting Rosengren’s Doxology, ss. 277-295. Ödåkra: Retorikförlaget, 2022. DOI: 10.52610/GOMX2908. ISBN: 978-91-86093-51-8.

"Något-intet-den?”, Res Cogitans, (2021), vol. 15, no. 1, ss.28-42. DOI: 10.7146/rc.15132022. ISSN: 1603-8509

“Slavoj Žižek and Dialectical Sophistics - On the Relationship Between Dialectical Philosophy and Philosophical Rhetoric”. Philosophy & Rhetoric, (2020), vol. 53, no. 2,ss.134-156, DOI: 10.5325/philrhet.53.2.0134. ISSN: 0031-8213.

“Hovets sofister: Diplomati, retorik och representationens problem”, Rhetorica Scandinavica 81, (2020), ss.48-64. DOI: 10.52610/rhs.v24i81.21. ISSN: 1397-0534

“Ska vi lära folk att tala? Eller: om logologins förutsättningar”, Rhetorica Scandinavica 74, (2017), ss.55-71. DOI: 10.52610/rhs.v20i74.59. ISSN: 1397-0534.

“Introduction: On the Art of Cave Guiding”, med Erik Bengtson, Karl Ekeman, Mirey Gorgis & Louise Schou Therkildsen, i Bengtson E., et. al. [red.]. Shadows in the Cave – Revisiting Rosengren’s Doxology, ss.9-16. Ödåkra: Retorikförlaget, 2022.

“An Alliance of War and Peace: Europe and the Necessity of Diplomacy”. Crisis & Critique, (2020), vol. 7, no. 1, ss. 194-213. ISSN: 2311-5475.

“Retorikens spöken” in Förledd och förjust, ed. Bengtson E. & Buhre F, ss.73-85. Södertörn retoriska studier 3. Huddinge: Södertörns högskola, 2015. ISBN: 978-91-87843-14-3.

Antologier

Payne, David; Strandberg, Gustav & Stagnell, Alexander [red.]. Populism and The People in Contemporary Critical Thought: Politics, Philosophy and Aesthetics. (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023)

Bengtson Erik; Ekeman, Karl; Gorgis, Mirey; Schou Therkildsen, Louise & Stagnell, Alexander. [red.]. Shadows in the Cave – Revisiting Rosengren’s Doxology. (Ödåkra: Retorikförlaget, 2023.)

Rosengren, Mats; Schou Therkildsen, Louise & Stagnell, Alexander [red.]. Can a person be illegal? Refugees, Migrants and Citizenship in Europe. (Uppsala: Uppsala universitet, 2018)