Monday 7th July - 07:20 PM BST
In Conversation: Democracy in the ruins of neoliberalism
How to defeat nihilism
The rise of populism has, in turn, been lauded as the defeat of neoliberalism. But while the old world may be dead, what does the new world that is struggling to be born look like? Join philosopher Wendy Brown in conversation with anarchist Sophie Scott Brown as they discuss how antidemocratic politics intertwine with neoliberal economics to create the political climate we see today.
If we are to save democracy, we need to recognise that it must be embedded in our economic lives. Only then can we forge a path to political renewal, a reduction in polarisation and a path to human connectedness.
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Wendy Brown
Neoliberalism's fiercest critic
Wendy Brown is one of the most influential political theorists of her generation, known for her penetrating analyses of power, neoliberalism, democracy, and the fate of the public good in contemporary political life. Brown is currently the UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (as of 2021) and is Professor Emerita of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
her major works include Undoing The Demos, which argues neoliberalism turns citizens into economic agents, In The Ruins of Neoliberalism, which explains the emergence of populism in response to neoliberal thought and Nihilistic Times: Thinking with Max Weber, which charts a crisis in human values.
Sophie Scott-Brown
Intellectual historian
Sophie Scott-Brown is an inspiring intellectual historian with research interests in modern European political thought, Anarchism and the history of education.