Abstract:
We are no longer an open society
At first glance, the combination of neoliberalism and authoritarianism might be puzzling. Wasn’t the economic prosperity that neoliberalism promised premised precisely on a small state and individual freedom? Well, not exactly. The question of freedom must always be answered by another question – freedom for whom? Way back in 1978 and shortly before his untimely death, Nicos Poulantzas described the rise of an ‘authoritarian statism’ featuring untrammelled executive power, a weakening in the rule of law, the loss of democratic legitimacy and a growing concentration of economic interests. According to Ian Bruff, neoliberalism has always been concerned not only to advance certain economic and political values but to ‘insulate [them] from social and political dissent’, in particular from the democratic forces that might challenge them.
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