The Race to Replace a Dying Neoliberalism

Abstract

The swift spread, persistence, and massive economic impact of the novel coronavirus have stunned the globe and left people seriously pondering what the future will bring. This chapter argues that while the 2008 global financial crisis did not result in a fundamental challenge to the hegemony of neoliberalism, COVID-19’s coming upon a world that still had not recovered from the financial crisis is likely to deepen neoliberalism’s ideological crisis, leaving the arena mainly to a struggle between progressive alternatives and the far right. While progressives are rich in ideas for a post-neoliberal organisation of economic life, these have not been translated into a critical mass when it comes to political organising. The far right, on the other hand, partly by cherry-picking some progressive ideas but situating them within a right-wing gestalt, have had much more success in this area. Nevertheless, one cannot count out the left in this battle for ideological and political hegemony. These ideas are explored with sensitivity to developments in both the global North and South.