Abstract

In November 1999 the first protests associated with the 'anti-globalisation movement' took place in Seattle, and came to be seen as the starting point for globalised resistance to neoliberal capitalism. Despite initial optimism, the following years have seen little progress in formulating a coherent alternative to neoliberalism, a failure that has become particularly poignant in the aftermath of the recent credit crisis. Now, the neoliberal mandate that appeared to be in 'crisis' in just 2008 has reinvented itself through the guise of a new 'era of austerity'. In this timely book, Worth assesses the growing diversity of resistance to neoliberalism - progressive, nationalist and religious - and argues that, troublingly, the more reactionary alternatives to globalisation currently provide just as coherent a base for building opposition as those associated with the traditional 'left-wing' anti-globalisation movements. From the shortcomings of the Occupy movement to the rise of Radical Islam, the re-emergence of the far-right in Western Europe to the startling impact of the Tea Party in the US - Worth shows that while a progressive alternative is possible, it cannot be taken for granted.
Owen Worth is a lecturer in international relations at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He has published widely in the areas of global political economy and in particular in the areas of globalization, hegemony and resistance. He is the author of Hegemony, International Political Economy and Post-Communist Russia (2005), and he co-edited European Regionalism and the Left (with Gerry Strange, 2011), Globlisation and the ‘New’ Semi-Peripheries (with Phoebe Moore, 2009) and Critical Perspectives on International Political Economy (with Jason Abbott, 2002). He has published work on resistance and globalization in Global Society, Globalizations, Capital and Class, and Third World Quarterly, and has also published in International Politics, Review of International Studies, and Journal of International Relations and Development. He is the current managing editor of Capital and Class and is on the executive board of the Conference of Socialist Economics.
'Neoliberalism is rising, phoenix-like from the ashes of the financial crisis, while the left flounders. By showing how the crisis has, in fact, been hijacked by conservative and religious movements from around the world, this incredibly timely and insightful book provides an important answer to why no left alternative has emerged. A must for anyone interested in resisting neoliberalism.' Kean Birch, York University, Canada 'Owen Worth does a very good job of moving his readers towards a political understanding of the present juncture that is at once pragmatic and radical. Interlacing commentary and analysis, Resistance in the Age of Austerity builds intelligently on previous scholarship. Well informed of a wide variety of practice (from the right, the left, and 'from above'), it is topical, conceptually rigorous, and astute in thinking through the politics of counter-hegemony. Holding quite tenaciously to a line of argument in the grand Gramscian tradition, Owen Worth offers a valuable contribution to current debates in the left. He makes a very good case that debates should be more focused on strategy, as we look beyond neoliberal politics.' André C. Drainville, Laval University, Quebec 'Worth provides a wonderful framework for addressing questions about possibilities for change that students raise all the time, but that most studies of globalization treat as too difficult.' Craig N. Murphy, University of Massachusetts Boston 'If (as it now appears) we are entering an age of public austerity for the many and private ostentation for the few, legitimated on a global scale by neoliberal ideology, then analyses such as this insightful and engaging new book by Owen Worth go to the heart of the political predicament of our time. What kinds of resistances have emerged to this form of world order, how are their complex and often contradictory political positions to be understood, and what possibilities might emerge for a more coherent, progressive alternative? Without pretending to divine The Answer, Worth offers insightful reflections on questions of greatest significance for global political economy.' Mark Rupert, Maxwell School of Syracuse University 'Worth uncovers national populism and religious fundamentalism as two of the three most powerful forms of resistance to neoliberalism. It is time for progressive internationalists to learn the lessons of gaining popular appeal. The momentum is there. The stakes are too high.' Vlad Mykhnenko, University of Birmingham 'This book asks the vital question of whether any coherent, effective, counter hegemonic project and organisation has emerged that is capable of posing a challenge to the global dominance of neoliberal capitalism. It is a comprehensive, critical assessment of the spectrum of contemporary social forces of resistance, including progressive internationalism, national populism, and religious fundamentalist movements across the globe. Fluently and clearly written, this study presents a sobering reflection on the state of the world and the possibiltiies of alternatives to the present order. An excellent and timely study, this places Worth in the front rank among theorists of the politics of resistance. This book deserves to be read by all who seek an uncompromising critical understanding of the diversity and limitations of resistance movements, and those who still hope for alternative visions of a progressive future to become a reality in our time.' Barry K. Gills, Newcastle University