Conclusion

Abstract

In this chapter the author makes some conclusions about the theory of complex hegemony. In particular, it details the ways in which this theory is distinct from a number of other leading ways of understanding power: Althusserian structuralism, Latourian actor-network theory, and post-Foucauldian governmentality and metagovernance theory. Such considerations develop three conclusive ideas: the distinction between complexity and dialectics, the critical-political necessity of structural and explanatory stratification, and the interplay of coercion and consent ultimately implicit within the understanding of complex hegemony. The chapter then lays out some of the implications of complex hegemony theory as establishing a rejoinder to recent attempts to paint hegemony as an outmoded way of theorising power, as well as a new position within political and social theory with implications for political strategy and organisation.