Neoliberalism, Authoritarianism, And the Crisis of Democracy

This essay argues that neoliberalism is not merely an economic theory but a political project that has transformed governance and weakened democratic accountability. By elevating market efficiency above public responsibility, neoliberal policies have eroded the social contract and empowered economic elites. Deregulation, privatization, and the dismantling of welfare protections have deepened inequality and public distrust. The state has shifted from serving citizens to managing them as market actors while insulating corporate power from democratic oversight. These changes have fragmented society, hollowed institutions, and fueled political alienation. Neoliberalism's portrayal as neutral economics obscures its role in reinforcing elite control. Neoliberal economic policies and their radical conception of society have undermined the standard of living of the middle and working class and people experiencing poverty. Neoliberalism has hollowed out democracies and civil society by recasting the entire social and political field into the image of the market. It reconfigures critical institutions, particularly the neoliberal state, that actively work to create markets and protect them from alternative discourses while helping to shape society into the image of the market. Neoliberalism has captured our political system and set the national agenda, which sociologist Loic Wacquant calls a new mode of governance.