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Mutant Neoliberalism: Market Rule and Political Rupture
Tales of neoliberalism's death are serially overstated. Seemingly repudiated by historical events and yet staggering on like an undead cadaver, neoliberalism was proclaimed a "zombie" ideology following the 2008 financial crisis. After the major political shocks of 2016, the global rise of the far right, and the rebirth of democratic socialist politics, commentators declared "the end of neoliberalism" once again. Yet even as new political forces emerge from decades of neoliberal hegemony, it remains far from certain whether they will sound neoliberalism's death knell or rather propel new movements within its dynamic development.
Mutant Neoliberalism brings together leading scholars of neoliberalism from an array of disciplines--political theorists, historians, philosophers, sociologists, and anthropologists--to reappraise ongoing transformations within our historical moment. Rethinking the shifting relationship between market rule and political rupture, the authors interrogate the decades of neoliberal governance, policy and depoliticization that created conditions for thriving reactionary forces, while also investigating how recent trends may challenge, reconfigure, or extend neoliberalism's reach. Individual chapters map mutations of neoliberal governance and capitalism across diverse sites (from the United States and Europe to India and China) and analyze the complex entanglements of neoliberalism with far-right, ethno-nationalist, and neo-authoritarian forces. Facing the challenges of our dystopic present not only requires moving beyond expectations of neoliberalism's inevitable death, but also grasping its ongoing mutations across spheres of political, economic, and social life. Mutant Neoliberalism recasts the stakes of contemporary debate, asking us to rethink what we know about neoliberalism in order to reorient critique and resistance within a rapidly changing landscape.
Mutant Neoliberalism brings together leading scholars of neoliberalism from an array of disciplines--political theorists, historians, philosophers, sociologists, and anthropologists--to reappraise ongoing transformations within our historical moment. Rethinking the shifting relationship between market rule and political rupture, the authors interrogate the decades of neoliberal governance, policy and depoliticization that created conditions for thriving reactionary forces, while also investigating how recent trends may challenge, reconfigure, or extend neoliberalism's reach. Individual chapters map mutations of neoliberal governance and capitalism across diverse sites (from the United States and Europe to India and China) and analyze the complex entanglements of neoliberalism with far-right, ethno-nationalist, and neo-authoritarian forces. Facing the challenges of our dystopic present not only requires moving beyond expectations of neoliberalism's inevitable death, but also grasping its ongoing mutations across spheres of political, economic, and social life. Mutant Neoliberalism recasts the stakes of contemporary debate, asking us to rethink what we know about neoliberalism in order to reorient critique and resistance within a rapidly changing landscape.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published November 5, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 1, 2020
It's a collection of essays with varying quality of contributions. You'll find some of the most up-to-date analyses of neoliberalism among them. The underlying concept of the book is "mutation". Neoliberalism is not dead and is not a zombie (as many others claimed) - but it mutates. One of the most striking mutations of neoliberalism is its hybridisation with populism, nationalism and authoritarianism. The “ascendant far-right, reactionary forces appear less as neoliberalism’s gravediggers than as its own mutant progeny” as the editors write in the introduction. You will find political theorists, historians, philosophers, anthropologists and sociologists writing about the changing contours of neoliberalism.
I found the chapter by Slobodian and Plehwe - two renowned historians of neoliberalism - particularly interesting. Public debate consistently overlooks the neoliberal, postnational, and transnational dimensions of the nationalist right -- this is what Slobodian and Plehwe attack. They show that throughout the 2000s, an increasing number of neoliberals turned against Europe. The 2008 financial crisis represented an opportunity to forge new alliances with nationalist, anti-migration parties. Ironically the new right-wing neoliberalism profits from the dislocations of the neoliberal project (free trade, free capital movements, deregulation, and liberalization) and the inadequate protection offered by the ever-shrinking welfare state.
A short book, easy to read, and highly recommended to understand contemporary politics.
I found the chapter by Slobodian and Plehwe - two renowned historians of neoliberalism - particularly interesting. Public debate consistently overlooks the neoliberal, postnational, and transnational dimensions of the nationalist right -- this is what Slobodian and Plehwe attack. They show that throughout the 2000s, an increasing number of neoliberals turned against Europe. The 2008 financial crisis represented an opportunity to forge new alliances with nationalist, anti-migration parties. Ironically the new right-wing neoliberalism profits from the dislocations of the neoliberal project (free trade, free capital movements, deregulation, and liberalization) and the inadequate protection offered by the ever-shrinking welfare state.
A short book, easy to read, and highly recommended to understand contemporary politics.
June 12, 2025
Chapter 2, 3 and 4 are most interesting, especially with regards to today's events: populism and authoritarianism in the Western world.
Chapter 5 reads like a conspiracy.
Chapter 6, 8, and 10 made no sense to me.
Chapter 7, about masculinity was thought-provoking, but not very substantiated.
Chapter 9 felt contextless, and requires a full book.
Chapter 5 reads like a conspiracy.
Chapter 6, 8, and 10 made no sense to me.
Chapter 7, about masculinity was thought-provoking, but not very substantiated.
Chapter 9 felt contextless, and requires a full book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews