Political will and human geography: Non-representational, post-political, and Gramscian geographies

Inspired by philosopher Peter Hallward’s call for a renewed focus on political will, this article examines its conceptualization within three areas of the discipline: non-representational theory, post-politics, and Gramscian geographies. Non-representational theorists draw attention to the role of affect in shaping political life, but have little to say about conscious collective volition. In contrast, post-politics scholars offer an extensive vocabulary for understanding political will as a prescriptive form of agency, but risk confining the political to an abstract, regulative idea. Meanwhile, Gramscian geographies’ dialectical approach to political will can complement both by mediating between extremes of objective and subjective determination.