Destroying Democracy: Neoliberal Capitalism and the Rise of Authoritarian Politics (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781776147007)

A history of the erosion of democracy across the globe

Democracy is being destroyed. This is a crisis that expresses itself in the rising authoritarianism visible in divisive and exclusionary politics, populist political parties and movements, increased distrust in fact-based information and news, and the withering accountability of state institutions. Over the last four decades, democracy has radically shifted to a market democracy in which all aspects of human, non-human and planetary life are commodified, with corporations becoming more powerful than states and their citizens. This is how neoliberal capitalism functions at a systemic level and if left unchecked, is the greatest threat to democracy and a sustainable planet.

Volume six of the Democratic Marxism series focuses on how decades of neoliberal capitalism have eroded the global democratic project and how, in the process, authoritarian politics are gaining ground. Scholars and activists from the political left focus on four country cases - India, Brazil, South Africa and the United States of America - in which the COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled and highlighted the pre-existing crisis. They interrogate issues of politics, ecology, state security, media, access to information and political parties, and affirm the need to reclaim and re-build an expansive and inclusive democracy.

Destroying Democracy is an invaluable resource for the general public, activists, scholars and students who are interested in understanding the threats to democracy and the rising tide of authoritarianism in the global south and the global north.

Author: Michelle Williams, Jane Duncan
ISBN-10: 1776147006
ISBN-13: 9781776147007
Publisher: Wits University Press
Language: English
Published: 08/01/2021
Pages: 280
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.16lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.69d

About the Author
Michelle Williams (Editor)
Michelle Williams is associate professor in Sociology and chairperson of the Global Labour University programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Vishwas Satgar (Editor)
Vishwas Satgar, a democratic eco-socialist, is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.