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

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.