Backlash

Bol

Essays on the terrifying new political formations damaging our world ‘With the far right continuing to consolidate power, Backlash is an essential guide to the different forms that authoritarian populism has taken and the different strategies it has employed ... Required reading not only for scholars but for those on the frontlines of fighting fascism’ John Feffer, author of Right Across the World ‘An urgent book [which] shows how the rise of autocracy links to global upward transfers of wealth’ Sian Lazar, Professor, University of Cambridge We live in an age of counterrevolution. Political and social gains of previous decades are being rolled back, while at the same time the atomisation and injustices of global capitalism intensify. Political leaders are scapegoating minorities and political enemies, while consolidating even more power and wealth for elites. This collection of essays from an international team of leading researchers explores the global rise of the radical right and its social and political contradictions. Examining India, Eastern Europe, the US, Argentina, Germany and more, Backlash draws the connections between these movements and governments, providing crucial analysis for those looking for weaknesses in the terrifying rise of the far right. Don Kalb is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, and director of the GRIP programme on global inequality. His most recent book is Value and Worthlessness: The Rise of the Populist Right and Other Disruptions in the Anthropology of Capitalism. Walden Bello is an author, academic, and political analyst. Designated ‘my favourite no-nonsense revolutionary’ by Naomi Klein, he was also the recipient the Right Livelihood Award (aka the Alternative Nobel Prize) in 2003 and named Outstanding Public Scholar by the International Studies Association in 2008. We live in an age of counterrevolution. Liberal elites around the world are weaponising their fascistic narratives, creating political enemies of the 'other' as a means of consolidating even more power and wealth. While scapegoating minorities is nothing new, we have never seen it happen quite like this before. Today, global capitalism is financialised, tech-driven and violently mercantilist. This collection of essays from leading researchers reveals new forms of the radical right, neo-nationalism, authoritarian neoliberalism, illiberalism and democratic backsliding. Looking beyond the simplistic headlines, they reveal the deep systemic shifts that have been building for decades. Exploring India, Eastern Europe, the US, Argentina, Germany and more, Backlash draws the systemic connections between these seemingly nationalist movements, providing crucial information for those on the left looking for weaknesses in the terrifying rise of the right.

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Pages: 320, Paperback, Pluto Press (UK)