Crisis, Pandemics, and Right-Wing Populism

Historical Materialism

Crisis, Pandemics, and Right-Wing Populism: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Neoliberalism

Morbid symptoms: The political economy of authoritarian neoliberalismSince the 2008-9 global financial and economic crisis liberal democracy has been facing increasing challenges around the world. From the strangling of progressive governments in the semi-periphery of the EU (e.g. Greece, Portugal, Spain), through the Brexit vote in the UK, to the governments of Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán and Jair Bolsonaro in the US, Hungary and Brazil respectively, the retreat of liberal democracy has led to the deepening of austerity measures, the ascendancy of ‘authoritarianism’ and ‘illiberalism’, and the growing racialisation or ethnicization of class inequalities across the world. In response to these dark developments, a number of progressive scholars and activists have in recent years introduced the concept of ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’ to describe a qualitative shift in state-market relations, characterised by attempts to construct a legal and constitutional framework designed to disenfranchise subordinate groups or populations by rendering democratic institutions marginal to the political decision-making process, while moving neoliberal policies beyond the domain of popular contestation (cf. Bruff 2014, 2016; Bruff &amp; Tansel 2019; Fabry 2019; Kiely 2017; Tansel 2017). The aim of this panel is to engage with the growing literature on ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’ by interrogating the theoretical, methodological and empirical usefulness of the concept. To fulfil this objective, the contributions to this panel will analyse a range of case studies in the centrum and semi-periphery of global capitalism that might be considered to occupy the forefront of authoritarian neoliberalism from a critical, interdisciplinary perspective.‘The Crisis of Neoliberal Globalization and the Global Rise of Authoritarianism in the 21st Century’Berch Berberoglu, University of Nevada, Reno, USAAs we enter the third decade of the 21st century, neoliberal globalization promoted by U.S. transnational capital and the state for much of the latter part of the 20th and early 21st century is in deep crisis. The contradictions of this process are seen and felt everywhere, and the disturbing manifestations of authoritarian neoliberalism—from cronyism and corruption to suppression of civil liberties and human rights in the form of authoritarian states across the globe that violate the rule of law and trample on democratic governance—are on the rise across the world.The rise of authoritarian regimes around the world are not new, as we know from the experience of such regimes in Chile under General Pinochet, Argentina under General Videla, and a host of other military and civilian dictatorships in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East in the 1970s and 1980s through the early years of the new millennium to the present, with right-wing authoritarian regimes ruling across the globe. Against this backdrop, the paper contends that two trends have emerged as a consequence of the expansion of the neoliberal project of economic plunder and political repression to further the process of capital accumulation in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The first has always benefited the transnational corporations (and their capitalist owners in the center states) and the cronies of foreign capital, who, through their corrupt practices, have fulfilled their role as agents of foreign corporations and the imperial state, thus taking many of these countries down the same disastrous authoritarian path. The second has emerged in response to the crisis and impact of neoliberalism and capitalist globalization on broad segments of the population across the world in the form of a populist reaction led by right-wing pseudo-nationalist forces that have mobilized people under the banner of ultra-nationalism to prevent the rise of a socialist or communist movement at home and abroad against neoliberal global capitalism. The paper argues that it is against this background and in the context of the contradictions and crisis of neoliberal capitalist globalization that we need to understand the re-emergence of authoritarian neoliberalism across the world in the early 21st century.The paper points out that whereas the crisis of neoliberal globalization lies at the roots of the rising tide of authoritarianism that various states have imposed to stabilize and rationalize the adverse effects of the global capitalist crisis through the imposition of autocratic rule, those in power in authoritarian states have not always succeeded in enforcing state-sanctioned repression. Given the gravity of the crisis that the global economy faces today, the paper informs us that those being adversely affected by authoritarian neoliberal regimes (first and foremost the working class) are mobilizing their ranks and are engaging in protracted political struggles to guard and defend their rights by taking effective steps in their fight against neoliberal authoritarian capitalism and the oppressive class forces that prop up such regimes, concluding that social movements organized to take on these repressive authoritarian states as part of their struggle for democratic rights are destined to lead the masses to their eventual victory through revolutionary class action to transform their societies.‘A Model State of Authoritarian Neoliberalism? An Analysis of the Orbán Regime in Hungary’Adam Fabry, (Universidad Nacional de Chilecito, Argentina), Attila Antal, (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. HungaryThe 2008 global financial crisis did not lead to the ‘end of neoliberalism&#x27;. Instead, we have since then seen the deepening of austerity measures, the increasing commodification of the commons, the ascendancy of &#x27;authoritarian&#x27; and ‘illiberal’ political parties and state practices, and the growing racialisation or ethnicisation of class inequalities across the world. One of the most conspicuous examples of these dark developments is provided by the Orbán regime in Hungary. Drawing on the works of Antonio Gramsci (1973) and Stuart Hall (1979, 1980, 1985), as well as more recent writings on the contested relationship between neoliberalism and democracy (Berberoglu 2020; Bruff 2014, 2016; Dardot and Laval 2013, 2019; Davidson and Saull 2017; Kiely 2017; Tansel 2017), this paper argues that what has been dubbed as the ‘illiberal revolution’ (Krastev 2018) in Hungary and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is a symptom of a wider shift towards &#x27;authoritarian neoliberalism&#x27; (Bruff 2014, 2016; Tansel 2017). This turn is characterised by the fusion of radical right-wing populism and the deepening of neoliberal policies and practices (often against economic rationality) through coercive and/or legal measures by governments (Antal 2019; Fabry 2019). The paper principally concentrates on the relationship between authoritarianism and neoliberalism in Hungary under the Orbán regime, with a particular emphasis on developments since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also presents some illustrative examples from other countries in CEE to reflect on broader trends toward authoritarian neoliberalism in the region.‘Authoritarian Neoliberalisms, Social Reproduction and Social Policy in Croatia, Hungary and Poland’Noemi Lendvai-Bainton, (University of Bristol, UK_ Paul Stubbs, (The Institute of Economics, Zagreb , Croatia)Seeing variegated authoritarian neoliberalisms as state regulatory projects that produce systematic hierarchies, insecurity and disciplinarity, resting on heteronormative familialism, repatriarchialization, national and ethnicized renewal, and anti-immigrant sentiments, this comparative analysis of Croatia, Hungary and Poland, addresses three themes not well developed in the Marxist literature. Firstly, it takes social policy and social welfare seriously as a key arena of struggle for a hegemonic political economy, a fluid domain in which radical, but variegated, restructurings of social provisioning and social ordering occur. Secondly, it connects authoritarian neoliberalism to wider crises of social reproduction and the development of a variegated, transnational, radical conservative gender politics, including hetero-normativism, culturalist familialism and gender normativism. Thirdly, it explores the multiple ways in which state-economy linkages have a transnational character, with political and economic insiders engaged in predatory forms of accumulation in the context of global capitalism.Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism: A Long-term Perspective from the Southern Cone of Latin AmericaHernán Ramírez, (Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brasil)Recently, the relationship between neoliberalism and authoritarianism has gained renewed interest in the academic literature. Based on the Brazilian, Chilean and Argentinean experiences, this paper analyzes the combination of authoritarianism and neoliberalism from a historical perspective, since it was in these lands that for the first time neoliberal positions became public policies on a large scale, precisely by force, when dictatorships were installed through coups. This perspective not only allows us to address cases of the capitalist periphery, but also of the neoliberal centers themselves, since they were also involved in the process and justified such a relationship, showing us how their dominance is far from being hegemonic, disciplinarization being necessary as a method. The one that applies both in dictatorial and formal democratic regimes, since the use of force can have different components, which we will break down on paper.Links to associated literature by panellists:Antal, A. (2019). The Rise of Hungarian Populism: State Autocracy and the Orbán Regime, Bingley: Emerald Publishing. Available on: https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/doi/10.1108/9781838677510. Berberoglu, B. (2020). The Global Rise of Authoritarianism in the 21st Century: Crisis of Neoliberal Globalization and the Nationalist Response, London: Routledge. Available on: https://www.routledge.com/The-Global-Rise-of-Authoritarianism-in-the-21st-Century-Crisis-of-Neoliberal/Berberoglu/p/book/9780367426798. Fabry, A. (2019). The Political Economy of Hungary: From State Capitalism to Authoritarian Neoliberalism. London: Palgrave. Available on: https://www.springer.com/la/book/9783030105938. Ramirez, H. (2019). Neoliberalismo e (neo)autoritarismo: Uma perspectiva de longo prazo a partir de casos do Cone Sul da América Latina. Available on: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337773331_Neoliberalismo_e_neoautoritarismo_uma_perspectiva_de_longo_prazo_a_partir_de_casos_do_Cone_Sul_da_America_Latina. Chair: Conrad HamiltonPLEASE NOTE: All events for HM Online are free to register, however we would ask comrades who are able to please consider making a donation, which would help us enormously in covering the costs of putting of this programme of events. Like all left organisations, HM has had a very tough period since the beginning of 2020 and our budgets are very stretched and bank balance is sinking all the time, with very little revenue coming in. If you can make a contribution to keep us afloat, please don’t hesitate! You can donate by selecting the &#x27;donation&#x27; ticket type at registration.Once you have registered, a link to the live session will be emailed to you on the day of the event. For any technical queries please contact historicalmaterialism@soas.ac.ukPlease consider subscribing to the Historical Materialism journal, published by BRILL. www.brill.com/hima

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