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committed to neoliberalism, let alone to ascend to national power. Syriza, on the other hand, did
come to power in 2015 with a mandate to reverse the brutal neoliberal austerity policies triggered
by the eurozone crisis but quickly succumbed to the overwhelming pressures of European Union
institutions and the global financial markets alike (Panayotakis, 2020: 58-60).
The danger from the reactionary response to neoliberalism, by contrast, has gained new
urgency as openly xenophobic and racist forces on the far right have been gaining ground around
the world. Donald Trump’s 2016 election into the U.S. presidency, Brexit, the electoral strength
of the far right in France and elsewhere, as well as the rise of right-wing authoritarian leaders in
a number of countries, including Hungary, Brazil and India, are often seen as a sign of
neoliberalism’s, or even liberal democracy’s, weakened state (Antonio and Bonanno, 2020: 477;
Fraser, 2017: 40; Zizek, 2017: 195). Complicating this picture, of course, is the fact that, even
though the far right’s anti-establishment and populist postures often capitalize on the suffering
that neoliberal globalization inflicts on low-income segments of the population (Della Porta,
2017: 26-27, Fraser, 2017: 40-41; Mason, 2017: 97; Milberg, 2020: 29; Panayotakis, 2020: 61-
64) especially in de-industrializing and rural regions (Foa and Wilmot 2019; Loomis, 2020), the
actual policies of right-wing populists, once in power, often perpetuate or even “[accelerate]
neoliberal business as usual” (Antonio and Bonnano 2020: 477). Xenophobia, racism and
sexism then perform the function of maintaining support for right-wing authoritarian political
forces by redirecting the fear capitalist insecurity inflicts on ordinary people against the
oppressed and marginalized groups (immigrants from the global South, women, people of color)
that often become scapegoated for the deteriorating material conditions experienced by large
segments of the working class in North America and Europe (Fraser, 2017: 44; Panayotakis,
2020: 62-63). In this sense, the tension between capitalism and democracy is integral to the