Tales of neoliberalism’s death are serially overstated. Seemingly repudiated by historical events and yet staggering on like an undead cadaver, neoliberalism was proclaimed a “zombie” ideology following the 2008 financial crisis. After the major political shocks of 2016, the global rise of the far right, and the rebirth of democratic socialist politics, commentators declared “the end of neoliberalism” once again. Yet even as new political forces emerge from decades of neoliberal hegemony, it remains far from certain whether they will sound neoliberalism’s death knell or rather propel new movem ... More

Tales of neoliberalism’s death are serially overstated. Seemingly repudiated by historical events and yet staggering on like an undead cadaver, neoliberalism was proclaimed a “zombie” ideology following the 2008 financial crisis. After the major political shocks of 2016, the global rise of the far right, and the rebirth of democratic socialist politics, commentators declared “the end of neoliberalism” once again. Yet even as new political forces emerge from decades of neoliberal hegemony, it remains far from certain whether they will sound neoliberalism’s death knell or rather propel new movements within its dynamic development. Mutant Neoliberalism brings together leading scholars of neoliberalism from an array of disciplines—political theorists, historians, philosophers, sociologists, and anthropologists—to reappraise ongoing transformations within our historical moment. Rethinking the shifting relationship between market rule and political rupture, the authors interrogate the decades of neoliberal governance, policy, and depoliticization that created conditions for thriving reactionary forces, while also investigating how recent trends may challenge, reconfigure, or extend neoliberalism’s reach. Facing the challenges of our dystopic present not only requires moving beyond expectations of neoliberalism’s inevitable death, but also grasping its ongoing mutations across spheres of political, economic, and social life. Mutant Neoliberalism recasts the stakes of contemporary debate, asking us to rethink what we know about neoliberalism in order to reorient critique and resistance within a rapidly changing landscape.