Demand for demands: a psychoanalytic contribution to the theory of demand in contemporary social and political movements

This thesis develops a conceptual framework for rethinking political demand in contemporary protest, particularly where demands appear absent, opaque, or resistant to articulation. Drawing on Ernesto Laclau’s theory of demand articulation and Jacques Lacan’s theory of the four discourses, it examines how demands are structured, sustained, and replied to within distinct discursive configurations. The 2019 Chilean estallido social serves illustratively, revealing how heterogeneity and proliferation of voices made it difficult to condense the uprising into a single, unified articulation. Rather than treating this as incoherence, the framework interprets it as a structured field of replies, ranging from efforts to stabilise meaning through authority or expertise to practices that sustain ambiguity and unsettlement, each negotiating the impossibility of fully articulating what is being demanded. While demands are central to political discourse, the concept remains under-theorised. This thesis addresses that gap by analysing protest demands not as explicit claims but as discursive positions that exceed fixed representation. It argues that political theory often overlooks the ungraspable dimension of demand, what cannot be fully articulated or satisfied, and that Lacan’s four discourse theory provides tools to conceptualise this excess. The thesis aligns Laclau’s concept of demand with Lacan’s Hysteric/Master dialectic, showing how demands oscillate between disruption and stabilisation. It then examines the University discourse to reveal how expert knowledge replies to demand under a guise of neutrality while reinforcing dominant power. Finally, through the Analyst’s discourse, it explores the ethical task of sustaining the gap rather than closing it. In a time increasingly marked by attempts to close down ambiguity and overload meaning through data, algorithmic interpretation, and technocratic management, this thesis argues for the political and ethical value of indeterminacy. It offers a novel lens for engaging with protest forms that escape traditional articulation, mobilisation, and political transformation.