Needs, politics, and political theory: The failure of orthodox approaches, and a Marxian solution

我的项目的核心是需求的概念。这一概念很重要：它不仅具有直观的道德紧迫性和重要性，而且在政治理论和实践中发挥着重要作用。然而，我认为，尽管需要的概念意义重大且无处不在，但政治理论家迄今未能对它做出充分的解释。这是因为大多数理论家（以及大多数实践者）都有一个有问题的信念，即需要的规范意义必须在政治之外确定。然而，正如我的研究所表明的，这种方法是站不住脚的，因为它们既不可容忍地反政治，又内在地不连贯。这就要求我们用一种新的方法来研究需求：提供一种需求理论，而不--至关重要的是--抛弃政治，这正是我的研究所提供的。我这样做是通过对马克思的创新性阅读来发展一种新的需要方法，迄今为止在这种背景下还没有被研究过。我最重要的一点是运用了施为性（performativity）--源自巴特勒，并被赋予了马克思主义的色彩--作为满足需要的另一种方法。由此产生的解释认为，需要产生于一种社会实践模式中，认为这个术语只有在这些实践中才有意义，而不可能在这些实践之外被还原为一个概念上的现实。此外，通过将这些实践视为政治的形式，我的方法将需要--反对主流正统--视为本质上的政治。这种方法的转变对公共政策和政治实践的几个主要领域具有根本意义。由于正统的方法试图以这样或那样的方式“解决”需要的政治，它们构成了（自相矛盾的）政治干预，通过将当代社会实践的某些方面僵化为政治之外的“给定”来产生政治影响。相比之下，我的研究通过部署另一种概念框架和方法来打开这些封闭的政治空间。为了实现这种影响，并展示我的方法在现实世界中的应用，我开发并提出了一套实用的分析工具和应用案例研究：-需求背后的政治过程。我的方法不是关注需求如何使我们在特定的社会世界中茁壮成长，而是探索当代需求出现的社会，历史和政治过程。我用这个透镜来重新审视土著教育形式的案例。制定需要的政治程序。我的研究表明，任何试图具体说明抽象需求的尝试都必须在一系列无休止的政治冲突中导航，这些冲突是关于它们何时、如何以及以何种形式出现的。将这种方法应用于当代卫生需求，我研究了流行性公共卫生措施。政治进程遵循需求。在这里，我提供了一个系统的需求的理解，认为这样的系统不一定善于满足他们自己产生的需求。运用这种方法，我探讨了“自我实现”的需要，认为产生这种需要的社会经济制度也阻碍了它的满足。通过以这种方式挖掘需要的政治，我的工作对许多需要显著的政治和社会实践领域的研究人员，政策制定者和活动家产生了重大影响。该奖学金将提供机会来开发，传播和最大限度地发挥这种新方法的影响。该项目的骨干将是一系列针对各种受众的出版物，包括期刊文章、短文和专著。除了出版物之外，该项目还通过研讨会活动产生了进一步的影响，特别是将学术界内外的团体聚集在一起，探讨需求理论与实际政治和公共政策之间的关系。

Central to my project is the concept of need. That concept matters: it not only possesses an intuitive moral urgency and gravity, but also plays an important role in political theory and practice. I contend, however, that despite its significance and ubiquity, political theorists have thus far failed to offer an adequate account of the concept of need. This is because most theorists (as well as most practitioners) share the problematic belief that the normative significance of needs must be determined outside of politics. As my research shows, however, approaches of this kind are untenable, since they are both intolerably anti-political and internally incoherent. This leaves us requiring a new approach to needs: one that offers a theory of need without - crucially - doing away with the politics.This is exactly what my research offers. I do so by developing a novel approach to needs through an innovative reading of Marx, hitherto unexamined in this context. My most significant departure is the use of performativity - derived from Butler, and given a Marxian spin - as an alternative approach to needs. The resulting account holds that needs arise in a pattern of social practices, viewing that term as meaningful only to the extent that it is made to make sense within those practices, and impossible to reduce to a reality notionally external to those practices. What is more, by viewing those practices as forms of politics, my approach takes needs - against the dominant orthodoxies - to be constitutively political.This shift in approach has fundamental significance for several major areas of public policy and political practice. Because orthodox approaches attempt - in one way or another - to 'solve' the politics of need, they constitute (paradoxically) political interventions, generating political impacts by ossifying aspects of contemporary social practices as extra-political 'givens'. My research, by contrast, offers to open-up these closed-down political spaces by deploying an alternative conceptual framework and methodology. To achieve that impact and demonstrate the real-world applications of my approach, I develop and present a set of practical analytical tools and applied case studies:-The political processes behind needs. Rather than focusing on how needs enable us to thrive in a given social world, my approach explores the social, historical, and political processes through which contemporary needs have emerged. I use this lens to re-examine the case for Indigenous forms of education.-The political processes in enacting needs. My research shows how any attempt to specify abstract needs must navigate a series of interminable political conflicts over exactly when, how, and in what form they appear. Applying this approach to contemporary health needs, I examine pandemic public health measures.-The political processes following needs. Here I offer an understanding of needs as systems, arguing that such systems are not necessarily good at meeting the needs they themselves generate. Applying this approach, I explore the need for 'self-actualisation', arguing that the social-economic system that gives rise to this need also thwarts its satisfaction.By excavating the politics of need in this way, my work has major ramifications for researchers, policymakers, and activists in numerous areas of political and social practice where needs feature significantly. This fellowship will provide the opportunity to develop, disseminate, and maximise the impact of this novel approach. The backbone of the project will be a series of publications targeting a range of audiences, including journal articles, short-form pieces, and a monograph. Alongside publications, this project generates further impact through a workshop event, distinctively bringing together groups from within and beyond academia to explore the relationship between theories of need on the one hand, and practical politics and public policy on the other.