FALLING TRENDS

FALLING TRENDS

Rahul Ramya

23rd Nov. 2023

Liberalism has never been threatened by conservative ideals as much as neoliberalism has damaged it. A greed-based economic order has promoted profit-hungry corporatization in place of globalization, creating large-scale inequality alongside rising prosperity, fueling both ultra-left and far-right discontent and populism. This discontent and populism have been feeding the corruption of the rich and the dreams of the poor, causing an erosion of liberalism and its political manifestation of democracy.

The widening gap between the rich and the poor in the United States stands as a stark testament to neoliberalism's exacerbation of

inequality. In 1980, the top 1% of earners held 25% of the nation's wealth. By 2018, that share had ballooned to 38%, a direct consequence of neoliberal policies favoring corporations and the wealthy at the expense of workers and middle-class families.

Neoliberalism's role in fueling discontent and populism is exemplified by movements like Occupy Wall Street, which emerged in 2011 to protest against economic inequality and the perceived excesses of capitalism. Similarly, the rise of populism, evident in the election of Donald Trump in the United States and Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom, can be partly attributed to a backlash against neoliberal policies that have left many people feeling marginalized and economically insecure.

Moreover, neoliberalism's emphasis on deregulation has led to the erosion of environmental protection. The deregulation of the financial industry in the United States in the lead-up to the 2008  financial crisis serves as a cautionary tale. This deregulation allowed banks to engage in risky lending practices, ultimately contributing to the collapse of the housing market and the subsequent economic recession.

    These economic hardships have been coupled with rising prices, higher inflation and large scale illegal immigration that has transformed the rising inequality into vocal discontents of the  left out masses . This discontent is now being expressed in elections in many parts of the democratic world resulting into victory of far right populist parties and into political upheavals in many other parts in form of military coups . This is creating a vicious circle in which people support far right /ultra lefts and military junta who though come in power fail to provide alternate economic model that can end the woes of the common people but they remain reluctant to accept their political defeats damaging democracy as happened in Turkey, Hungary, Russia and to some extent in the US and Brazil.

This inequality generated discontent has more dimension as well. Those who are at receiving end face uncertainty in their life due to rising prices, unemployment , immigration , etc and so such uncertain and unsecured people take refuse to religious dogmatism . So this is another fall out where political parties encash it by fanning communal, racial and castist sentiments. Other fall out is crony capitalism as those who are benefitted prefer to align with the ruling side to save their benIfits and to increase the same. The increase in the size of middle class does not correspond to the increasing expansion of liberal values as happened after earlier periods of the last seven decades. Rather this middle class riding on the wave of crony capitalism and religiousity-ethnicity opts the populist ideals. See examples of countries like India where increase in the size of middle class  during last three decades is marked with rising communalism , castism on one hand and rising corruption, scams, migration  , both intra national and international. Those who have been left out have been allured by divisive politics of communalism. The populist government of BJP though has failed to solve a single problem of neo liberalism has been successfull in garnering increasing support of voters only by dint of utilizing fear of falling of the urban professional middle class and fear of scarcity of rural agro based middle class and lower class.

   Then question arises why the liberals are not responding . The answer lies in the ways and means adopted by the liberals. Liberals earlier by supporting  extension of neo liberalism has already  eroded their credibility. They have to present alternate model of development . Of course theoretical -philosophical base for such alternative model is available in the form of theory of political economy  of the scholars like Amartya Sen where human beings are kept central to the idea of development, but liberal political agents have to create a working policy on its basis. However social democrats of all three varieties of center, left and right have still not been able to present a coherent policy. In the US Biden has done some effort  to some extent. In Brazil President Lula has done so to some extent as well. But in Europe efforts are still not in the shape. In countries like India some political parties including the Congress, Communists, Socialists, have so far shown misplaced priorities. 

    In such a situation all sorts of divisive politics is getting success all over the world.