Capitalism, crisis and the far-right in the neoliberal era

Abstract

Far-right political currents continue to occupy a significant presence within many European states and, in recent years, have become associated with a distinct strand of anti-globalisation politics. This suggests that there is a connection between the socio-economic instabilities associated with capitalist development and the political fortunes of the far-right. While some scholars have recognised the significance of socio-economic factors in the (re)emergence and evolution of European far-right movements, much of this work has failed to incorporate the structural context and evolving character of international capitalist development in shaping the emergence and evolution of the far-right. It is the objective of this article to address this analytical lacuna in the discussion of far-right politics. Thus, through an engagement with existing Marxist accounts of fascism, I offer a revised historical material perspective on the evolving relationship between capitalist development and the far-right, with a particular emphasis on how the international dimensions of capitalist development help us account for the paradoxical character of the far-right revival. Thus, while the contemporary far-right has taken advantage of the instabilities and insecurities derived from neoliberal globalisation, its political fortunes have been historically circumscribed by the post-war transformation in the hegemonic organisational and institutional form of capitalist development.