Neoliberal deregulation erodes democracy as politics abdicates to market pressure

Evidence

In the light of this reconstruction one can discern all the more clearly the erosion of democracy that has been progressing ever further since politics has more or less abdicated in the face of the systemic pressure of deregulated markets. From this perspective, the theory of democracy and the critique of capitalism belong together. I did not invent the term ‘post-democracy’. But the political repercussions of the impacts of the global implementation of neoliberal policies on society can be brought together under it. — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 81

Categorization

• XREF: This is the core counterpoint to any reading of ‘Between Facts and Norms’ as abandoning critical theory — Habermas reunites democratic theory with capitalist critique, tying directly into the anti-deregulation anxiety threading through this 2022 essay. — connects to: Consumer society bred depoliticization even as welfare states strengthened democracy — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 27; Neoliberal economic rationality is extinguishing the domains through which democracy materializes.; The neoliberal state hollowed out parties to escape mass democracy’s brake on capital (+14 more)
• QUESTION: Habermas adopts ‘post-democracy’ without invention — worth tracking what Rancière and Crouch’s prior usages add that his does not.

Related

• Neoliberals support democracy only instrumentally, insofar as it serves the market system. (similarity 0.84)
• Neoliberalism suppresses both liberal and radical-democratic traditions. (similarity 0.83)
• Neoliberalism’s construction of persons and states is emptying out democratic principles publicly. (similarity 0.82)
• The market’s veridiction closes the political universe by erasing alternatives to economic rationality. (similarity 0.82)
• Neoliberal rationality reduces the very desire for democracy (similarity 0.82)
• Neoliberalism’s defeat of its own aims produced states yanked by capital and popular zeal (similarity 0.82)
• Consumer society bred depoliticization even as welfare states strengthened democracy (similarity 0.82)
• Neoliberalism gutted mass parties to free capital from democratic constraint (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberalism reframed democracy and unions as enemies of market truth. (similarity 0.81)
• Economization displaces democratic self-rule and its supporting institutions. (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberalism combined support for liberal democracy with fear of mass democracy (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberal doctrine pairs contradictory claims about markets guaranteeing democracy and freedom (similarity 0.81)
• Economizing the principle of popular rule can finally kill democracy. (similarity 0.80)
• Economized liberty recasts political power as the enemy of freedom (similarity 0.80)
• Neoliberalism seeks to strengthen rather than shrink the state (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal economic rationality is extinguishing the domains through which democracy materializes. #corroborates (0.95)
• The neoliberal state hollowed out parties to escape mass democracy’s brake on capital #corroborates (0.88)
• Formal political equality masks deep economic servitude that hollows out democracy #corroborates (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 406
• Democracy and markets both reduce choosers to interchangeable statistical objects #expands (0.80) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 738
• Market choice is a sham homologous to parliamentary democracy #corroborates (0.78) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 583