The crisis interregnum: From the new right-wing populism to the occupy movement

Studies in Political Economy

Volumn , Issue 91, 2013, Pages 85-112

  Solty, Ingar ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84892586356     PISSN: 07078552     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/19187033.2013.11674983     Document Type: Article

References (96)

1. M. Ryner, "Financial Crisis, Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in the Production of Knowledge about the EU", Millennium-Journal of International Studies 40/3(2012), pp. 647-673.
2. A. Gramsci, Gefängnishefte [Prison Notebooks]. 10 Volumes (Hamburg: Argument, 1991ff), Vol. 7, pp. 1561f.
3. R. W. Cox, Production, Power, and World Order (New York: Columbia University Press, 1987).
4. U. Brand, "Die Internationalisierung des Staates als Rekonstitution von Hegemonie. Zur staatstheoretischen Erweiterung Gramscis", in S. Buckel and A. Lescano-Fischer, (eds.), Hegemonie gepanzert mit Zwang. Zivilgesellschaft und Politik im Staatsverständnis Antonio Gramscis (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2007), pp. 161-180.
5. H.-J. Bieling, "Europäische Staatlichkeit", in Lars Bretthauer et al., (eds.), Poulantzas lesen. Zur Aktualität marxistischer Staatstheorie (Hamburg: VSA, 2006), pp. 223-239.
6. S. Gill and I. Solty, "Die organischen Krisen des Kapitalismus und die Demokratiefrage", Juridikum 24/1(2013), pp. 51-65.
7. A. Lipietz, "Akkumulation, Krisen und Auswege aus der Krise. Einige methodische Überlegungen zum Begriff 'Regulation, '" Prokla 58, 15/1(1985), pp. 109-137.
8. A. Demirovic et al., (eds.), Die Vielfach-Krise (Hamburg: VSA, 2011)
9. and S. Gill, "Organic Crisis, Global Leadership and Progressive Alternatives", in S. Gill, (ed.), Global Crises and the Crisis of Global Leadership (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 233-254.
10. L. Panitch and S. Gindin, Global Capitalism and American Empire (London et al.: Merlin Press, 2003)
11. and L. Panitch and S. Gindin, The Making of Global Capitalism. The Political Economy of the American Empire (London/New York: Verso, 2012).
12. M. Candeias, Neoliberalismu-Hochtechnologie-Hegemonie. Grundrisse einer transnationalen kapitalistischen Produktions- und Lebensweise. Eine Kritik 2nd Edition (Hamburg: Argument Verlag, 2009).
13. K. Phillips, Bad Money. Reckless Finance, Failed Politics and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism (New York: Viking Adult, 2008).
14. J. K. Galbraith, The Predator State. How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too (New York: Free Press, 2009);
15. P. Krugman, The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 (New York: Norton & Co., 2009).
16. D. Harvey, The New Imperialism (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003), p. 76.
17. On the various conceptions and well-developed debates in the Left environmentalist movement, compare with F. Adler and U. Schachtschneider, Green New Deal, Suffizienz oder Ökosozialismus? (Munich: Oekom, 2010)
18. as well as H. Thie, Plan B. Das rote Projekt für einen sozial-ökologischen Umbau (Berlin: Study of the Bundestag Faction of "Die LINKE", 2012).
19. P. Gowan, The Global Gamble (London/New York: Verso, 1999).
20. T. L. Friedman, "Green the Bailout!" New York Times (27 September 2008).
21. See, for example, R. Kuttner, Obama's Challenge. America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency (New York: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008).
22. See I. Solty, Die USA unter Obama. Charismatische Herrschaft, soziale Bewegungen und imperiale Politik in der globalen Krise (Hamburg: Argument, 2013), pp. 15-71.
23. P. Krugman, "Stimulus Arithmetic (Wonkish But Important)", New York Times (Blog) (6 January 2009).
24. See, for example, C. Crouch, The Strange Non-Death of Neo-Liberalism (New York et al.: Wiley & Sons, 2011).
25. K. Marx and F. Engels, Werke [Complete Works], 40 Volumes (East Berlin: Dietz, 1968), Vol. 4, p. 462.
26. Cf. Gramsci, Gefängnishefte Vol. 2, pp. 286-287
27. and I. Solty, Das Obama-Projekt. Krise und charismatische Herrschaft (Hamburg: VSA, 2008), pp. 2-4.
28. Gramsci, Gefängnishefte 2, p. 354.
29. P. Anderson, "On the Concatenation in the Arab World", New Left Review 68 (2011).
30. For Lenin, a "revolutionary situation" was characterized by such fissures among the ruling classes in which not only "the lower classes [do] not (...) want to live in the old way" but also "the upper classes [are] unable to live in the old way." He also pointed out, however, that not every revolutionary situation leads automatically to a revolution but depended on "the ability of the revolutionary class to take revolutionary mass action strong enough to break (or dislocate) the old government, which never, not even in a period of crisis, "falls" if it is not toppled over." The question is what happens in a situation, such as today, which appears to be the first crisis of capitalism without a significant political Left, let alone one potent enough to pose the question of power. It was Nicos Poulantzas, drawing on Gramsci and the historical experience of fascism which Lenin lacked, who pointed out that in a situation of economic and political crisis when the ruling class is losing its grasp on (hegemonic) power, and at the same time the Left is too small or too weak to effect change, which significantly ameliorates the hardships of the population, that far-Right forces fill the vacuum. See V. I. Lenin, Collected Works 21 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1974), pp. 438-454
31. and N. Poulantzas, Fascism and Dictatorship (London: NLB, 1974), pp. 139-143.
32. It will be interesting to see whether, as a result of the crisis and at least in the United States, we are seeing the rise of a "generation socialism" (in the widest sense), given the sudden disapproval of capitalism and approval of socialism among Americans under 30 identified by Rasmussen Reports (9 April 2009) and Pew Research (28 December 2011) as well as the related disbelief in the "free market" detected by GlobeScan (6 April 2010). These developments are, of course, affected by the far Right's accusations of Obama and Western Europe as "socialist." At the same time, they have to do with what Mortimer Zuckerman has called the "low-wage, part-time epidemic" in the United States with merely 28 percent of all jobs lost but 58 percent of all newly created ones belonging to the low-wage sector (Wall Street Journal 5 November 2012).
33. Still invaluable in terms of documenting the inspiring creativity in the history of the labour movement is J. Brecher, Strike! Revised and Updated Edition (Boston: South End Press Classics, 1998).
34. The most impressive documents of this self-doubt have emerged as a result of the discussions sparked by some of the most influential liberal-conservative intellectuals such as Charles Moore and Frank Schirrmacher in Germany. See C. Moore, "I'm Starting to Think that the Left Might Actually be Right", The Telegraph (22 July 2011);
35. F. Schirrmacher, "'Ich beginne zu glauben, dass die Linke recht hat'", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (15 August 2011);
36. and F. Shirrmacher, "Demokratie ist Ramsch", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (1 November 2011).
37. O. Lafontaine, "Wir wollen uns als eine Partei gegen den Zeitgeist verstehen. " Speech at the First Party Convention of Die Linke in Cottbus, Disput (June 2008), pp. 12-21. What was intended was the attractiveness of Left-wing transitional demands: In Germany, Lafontaine was referring in particular to the abolition of the unemployment insurance reforms infamously known as "Hartz IV", the abolition of the retirement age extension to 67, the introduction of a minimum wage, and the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. The original Benjamin passage reads "What matters for the dialectician is having the wind of world history in his sails. Thinking for him means: to set the sails. It is the way they are set that matters. Words are his sails. The way they are set turns them into concepts"
38. W. Benjamin, "Zentralpark", in W. Benjamin, Gesammelte Schriften [Collected Works] Vol. I.2(Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1991), p. 674.
39. I. Solty, "The Historic Significance of the New German Left Party", Socialism and Democracy 22/1(2008), pp. 1-34.
40. S. Gill, "Globalisation, Market Civilisation, and Disciplinary Neoliberalism", Millennium 23/3(1995), pp. 399-423.
41. C. Kaindl, "Frei sein, dabei sein. Subjekte im High-Tech- Kapitalismus", in C. Kaindl, (ed.), Subjekte im Neoliberalismus (Marburg: BdWi, 2007), pp. 141-162.
42. When the Schröder government in Germany implemented its neoliberal labour market reforms (the "Agenda 2010"), Oskar Negt coined the term "resource of fear", which he associated with neoliberal precarization. See, for example, O. Negt, "Trabanten des Kapitals: Angstrohstoff - der jüngste Angriff auf die Lebenszeit", der Freitag (14 May 2004).
43. On Germany and the wider Europe, see H-J. Urban, "Crisis corporatism and trade union revitalisation in Europe", in S. Lehndorff, (ed.), A Triumph of Failed Ideas: European Models of Capitalism in the Crisis (Brussels: ETUI aisbl, 2012), pp. 219-242.
44. The interesting parallel between the West and its middle classes and the situation in oilexporting Arabellion nations appears to be that, as opposed to Tunisia and Egypt, the increase in the price of oil in the last 10 years kept living standards in Libya at a high enough level to convince enough people inside and outside of the military to defend the Qaddafi regime despite its neoliberal reforms (e.g., privatizations, public-sector job cuts, etc.) and high (youth) unemployment; cf. E. Crome, der libysche Krieg des Westens (Berlin: Edition Ost, 2011)
45. and I. Solty, "Krieg gegen einen Integrationsunwilligen? Die politische Ökonomie des libyschen Bürgerkriegs und der westlichen Intervention im Kontext der Krise des globalen Kapitalismus", Prokla 163 41/2(2011), pp. 295-316.
46. G. Moschonas, In the Name of Social Democracy (London/New York: Verso, 2002).
47. Poulantzas, Fascism and Dictatorship, p. 75.
48. N. Bobbio, Left and Right (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1997).
49. T. Sarrazin, Deutschland schafft sich ab. Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen (Munich: DVA, 2010).
50. L. Knebel and P. Marquardt, "Vom Versuch, die Ungleichwertigkeit von Menschen zu beweisen", in M. Haller and M. Niggeschmidt, (eds.), der Mythos vom Niedergang der Intelligenz. Von Galton zu Sarrazin: Die Denkmuster und Denkfehler der Eugenik (Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2012), pp. 87-126.
51. C. Butterwegge, "Definitionen, Einfallstore und Handlungsfelder des Rechtspopulismus", in C. Butterwegge and G. Hentges, (eds.), Rechtspopulismus, Arbeitswelt und Armut (Opladen: Verlag Barbara Budrich, 2008), pp. 22-25.
52. W. Heitmeyer, Deutsche Zustände Vol. 10 (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2010).
53. C. Berlet and M. N. Lyons, Right-Wing Populism in America. Too Close for Comfort (New York: Guilford Press, 2000).
54. N. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism (London/New York: Verso Classics, 2000), p. 113.
55. See W. Benz, (ed.), Islamfeindschaft und ihr Kontext (Berlin: Metropol, 2009);
56. W. Benz, "Hetzer mit Parallelen", Süddeutsche Zeitung (4 January 2010);
57. S. Schiffer and C. Wagner, Antisemitismus und Islamophobie. Ein Vergleich (Wassertrüdingen: Hwk, 2009);
58. M. Brumlik, "Vergleichen heißt nicht gleichsetzen", tageszeitung (21 March 21 2010);
59. and M. Brumlik, "Ist die Islamophobie der neue Antisemitismus? ", Frankfurter Rundschau (15 December 2010).
60. st Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 21-46.
61. F. Deppe, D. Salomon, and I. Solty, Imperialismus (Cologne: Papy Rossa, 2011).
62. Poulantzas, Fascism and Dictatorship, p. 250.
63. In the English translation, the French original "catalogue des ressentiments" was actually translated as "catalogue of [⋯] grievances." However, "resentment" appears to be the more appropriate translation. Compare N. Poulantzas, Fascisme et dictature (Paris: Seuil/Maspero, 1974), p. 277.
64. The term "hyper-rebellious" is adapted from Georg Lukacs, who in his Nietzsche chapter in Destruction of Reason discusses Nietzsche's appeal to the middle classes with their radical (ized) individualist and elitist mindset using the term "hyper-revolutionary." See Georg Lukacs, Die Zerstörung der Vernunft (East Berlin: Dietz, 1954), p. 249.
65. E. M. Wood, Democracy Against Capitalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 204-237;
66. L. Panitch, Renewing Socialism (Pontypool: Merlin, 2008), pp. 72-97.
67. F. L. Neumann, "Angst und Politik (1954)", in: F. L. Neumann, Wirtschaft, Staat, Demokratie: Aufstätze 1930-1954 (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1978), pp. 424-459.
68. Other politicians fitting this category are Pim Fortuyn and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands or Jörg Haider and Frank Stronach in Austria and the new German president Joachim Gauck. On Fortuyn, see C. Crouch, Post-Democracy (Oxford: Polity Press, 2004), pp. 27;
69. on Guttenberg and Gauck, see also J. Habermas, Zur Verfassung Europas 4th edition (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2012), pp. 128-129.
70. C. Schmitt, Politische Theologie (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1996), pp. 11-23 and 59-63.
71. This is also one of the reasons why Max Weber developed his concept of "charismatic rule" with direct reference to the US political system. See, further, M. Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (Tübingen: Mohr, 1980), pp. 554-555, 853, and 862.
72. On the historical origins of the American special path, see I. Solty, "The Road Not (to Be) Taken: Why There is No Linkspartei in the United States. The American Sonderweg and the structural barriers to popular third parties in the U. S. political system", in Capital & Class 94, 32/1(2008), pp. 49-70;
73. on the historical and long-term challenges this American anomaly poses for the Left in the United States, see I. Solty, "The U. S. Democratic Party and the Left", in: The Bullet 705(2012), .
74. T. L. Friedman, Hot, Flat and Crowded. Why the World Needs a Green Revolution- and How We Can Renew Our Global Future (New York et al.: Penguin, 2009).
75. F. Fukuyama, "US Democracy Has Little to Teach China", Financial Times (17 January 2011).
76. Another interesting development in this regard, especially from the perspective of a "popular front"-style anti-fascism, is the growing rifts within the Right, which are manifested in the boundaries drawn by leading conservative intellectual and political figures between themselves and the far Right. Compare in this regard the following texts by former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum and the former Republican congressional staffer Mike Lofgren for the United States and Schirrmacher's and Lorenz Jäger's texts for Germany: D. Frum, "Why Rush is Wrong", The Daily Beast (6 March 2009);
77. D. Frum, "Inside Bachmann's Brain", Frum Forum (Blog) (8 August 2011)
78. D. Frum, "When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality?" New York Magazine (20 November 2011);
79. M. Lofgren, "Goodbye to All That. Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult", Truthout (3 September 2011);
80. F. Schirrmacher, "Sarrazin's Konsequenz. Ein fataler Irrweg", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (30 August 2010);
81. Jäger, Lorenz, "Adieu, Kameraden, ich bin Gutmensch", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (13 October 2011).
82. Compare the list compiled in Solty, Die USA unter Obama, pp. 68-69.
83. Solty, Die USA unter Obama, pp. 153-164.
84. I. Solty, "Canada's 'Maple Spring, '" Rosa Luxemburg Foundation/New York Office (December 2012), .
85. Solty, Die USA unter Obama, pp. 173-183.
86. S. Aronowitz, Left Turn: Forging A New Political Future (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2005).
87. Compare further I. Solty and S. Gill, "Bringing Legitimacy Back In: Ein Forschungsansatz für die Analyse der 'Euro-Krise'", Das Argument 301, 55/1-2 (2013) (forthcoming).
88. See .
89. In this context, the main debate seems to be between those Centre-Left people who are criticizing what they perceive as "post-democracy" and are limiting, with Colin Crouch, their desires to a re-democratization of liberalism and those such as Michael Brie and Frigga Haug who are promoting a new set of struggles between democracy and capitalism. The latter writers assume a general incompatibility between democracy and capitalism and envision some form of socialist democracy as the long-term goal brought about perhaps by some form of "revolutionary" or "radical realpolitik" modelled after Rosa Luxemburg's understanding of the art of politics in-and-against the state that may help overcome the undialectical and stale polarizations of (spontaneous) movement vs. party/institutional politics. See further Crouch, Post-Democracy;
90. M. Brie, Radikale Realpolitik. Plädoyer für eine andere Politik (Berlin: Dietz, 2009);
91. F. Haug, Rosa Luxemburg und die Kunst der Politik (Hamburg: Argument, 2007).
92. J. G. Ramsey, "Revolution Underground? Critical Reflections on the Prospect of Renewing Occupation", Socialism and Democracy 26/3(2012), pp. 93-116.
93. Solty, Die USA unter Obama, pp. 54-66.
94. B. Fletcher Jr. and F. Gapasin, Solidarity Divided. The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008).
95. N. Brenner, P. Marcuse, and M. Mayer, (eds.), Cities for People, Not for Profit. Critical Urban Theory and the Right to the City (New York et al.: Taylor & Francis, 2011);
96. D. Harvey, Rebel Cities. From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution (London/New York: Verso, 2012).