Neo-illiberalism

This review brings together a set of trends to rethink neoliberalism. Decades of neoliberalization have transformed Western political economies, and although the financial crisis debunked the ideology for a fraud, the practices have simply refused to die since. Instead, neoliberalism assumed an authoritarian character, feeding popular resistance. Although leftist challenges failed to break its spell, Brexit and Trump bulldozed right-wing populism into the mainstream of the neoliberal heartlands. Where these events have conventionally been presented as ruptures to the status quo, this review suggests that they herald the next neoliberal wave shaping global capitalism. This phase is described as neo-illiberalism, signifying the illiberal mutation and restoration of transatlantic neoliberalism, marked by brazen attacks on constitutional checks, balances and rights across vast neoliberalized landscapes. These are executed by neoliberal elites working with and/or adopting nativist narratives and policies of the radical right, unevenly adapting Western neoliberalism to a nascent neo-illiberal world order.