The Rise and Demise of Neoliberal Populism as a Hegemonic Project: Brazil, Thailand, and Turkey

Abstract

Three countries—Turkey, Thailand, and Brazil—exemplify the rise of neoliberal populism as a response to the crisis created in peripheral social formations by their integration into global capitalism. This essay thus begins by examining the social dimensions of neoliberal populism: namely, the formation of its social base, its policies of economic inclusion, and its organic relations with revisionist capitalist groups. Since these countries have undergone political crises resulting in regime changes with different authoritarian patterns, the essay then deals with three domains of struggle in which the specific dynamics of each country and the strategies and capacities of neoliberal populist parties can be decisive: political struggles with and among intrastate actors, the strategies followed by segments of capital and neoliberal populist parties, and the capacity of such parties to hold broad class coalitions together.