Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Drawing on a corpus of books by conservative, right-wing or reactionary authors – together termed ‘counter-critics’ – this article examines how they represent their opponents’ ideas as ‘tyranny’, as ‘authoritarian’ or even ‘totalitarian’. Rather than offering a theoretical account of ‘power’, the approach here follows a Foucauldian approach to ‘problematisation’, examining how ‘power’ is represented in discourse. Beyond tracing how counter-critics denounce their opponents as ‘tyrannical’, what emerges here is how a special power is attributed to words and ideas, both to enchant people with ideology and to dispel such delusions. Finally, this article offers reflexive considerations concerning the practice of critique.
Source: Journal of Political Power
Author: Tom Boland
Institution: University College Cork
Language: English
Topic: Foucault, Power, and Ethics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7155067193