Destroying Democracy

Through a comparative analysis of a panoply of issues in four country cases, Destroying Democracy demonstrates how decades of neoliberal capitalism have eroded the global democratic project, giving rise to divisive and exclusionary politics and increasing authoritarianism, fascism and populism in both the global north and south.

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.

Acknowledgements
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Preface: Neoliberal Capitalism in the Time of Covid-19: Destroying Democracy and Rising Authoritarianism – Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar
Part I: Neoliberal Capitalism’s Destruction of Democracy
Chapter 1 The Crisis of Democracy: Neoliberal Capitalism, Authoritarianism and Reclaiming Democracy – Michelle Williams
Chapter 2 The Rise of Eco-Fascism – Vishwas Satgar
Part II: Neoliberal Capitalism Against Democracy Globally
Chapter 3 Populism and Fascism: Lessons from the 1920s Ku Klux Klan – Linda Gordon
Chapter 4 What Do ‘Unruly’ Right-Wing Authoritarian Nationalists Do When They Rule? The United States under Donald Trump – Ingar Solty
Chapter 5 Brazilian Democracy Facing Authoritarian Neoliberalism – Alfredo Saad Filho
Chapter 6 India’s Trajectories of Change, 2004-2019 – Alf Gunvald Nilsen
Part III: Neoliberal Capitalism Against Democracy in South Africa
Chapter 7 The Dialectic of Democracy: Capitalism, Populism and Working-Class Politics – Devan Pillay
Chapter 8 Democracy and the Right to Know in South Africa’s Capitalist Transition – Dale T McKinley
Chapter 9 South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Media and Democracy – Mandla J Radebe
Chapter 10 Securitising Protests as Domestic Instability in South Africa – Jane Duncan
Chapter 11 Prospects for a Left Renewal in South Africa – Gunnett Kaaf
Conclusion – Vishwas Satgar
Contributors
Index