Beyond the neoliberal narrative: contradictions and the authoritarian wave
Neoliberalism, Contradictions, Authoritarian neoliberalism, Covid-19 pandemic, Democracy, State, Brazil
In this thesis, I provide a critical assessment of the current hegemonic order, highlights its contradictions and structural flaws, and most importantly opens the door to a debate analyzing authoritarian neoliberalism, one of the most disturbing contemporary developments. All this from the perspective of political economy without separating the current issues from their historical roots. The literature on authoritarian neoliberalism has increased recently, but it often tends to focus on a specific case and pay limited attention to authoritarian connections to the neoliberal path as a whole. For this reason, I sought to build a deep discussion that addresses the recent shift towards authoritarian neoliberalism without neglecting the connection of this shift with the historical course of neoliberalism. Thus, the thesis follows a chronological path that starts from a point in the past and leads us towards the recent crisis that struck neoliberalism with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although authoritarian neoliberalism is a current issue crystallized in the wake of the global financial crisis, I argue that its explanation depends on our awareness of past neoliberal transformations and the contradictions inherent in the core of today's dominant thought. Taking this into account allows emphasizing the critical role of the state in building and consolidating the neoliberal order, thus avoiding the fall into the mistake of inaccurate reductionisms that show neoliberalism as an anti-state ideology. I was keen to include experiences from different countries and reviewed the various manifestations of authoritarian liberalism revealed by the experiences of countries such as the United States, Turkey, Hungary and others. It also provided an assessment of the Brazilian experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus combining his critical discussion with contemporary analysis of a practical case that has recently sparked interest.