We are living through a period of dramatic political change – Brexit, the election of Trump, the rise of extreme right movements in Europe and elsewhere, the resurgence of nationalism and xenophobia and a concerted assault on the liberal values and ideals associated with cosmopolitanism and globalization. Suddenly we find ourselves in a world that few would have imagined possible just a few years ago, a world that seems to many to be a move backwards. How can we make sense of these dramatic developments and how should we respond to them? Are we witnessing a worldwide rejection of liberal democracy and its replacement by some kind of populist authoritarianism?

This timely volume brings together some of the world's greatest minds to analyse and seek to understand the forces behind this 'great regression'. Writers from across disciplines and countries, including Paul Mason, Pankaj Mishra, Slavoj Zizek, Zygmunt Bauman, Arjun Appadurai, Wolfgang Streeck and Eva Illouz, grapple with our current predicament, framing it in a broader historical context, discussing possible future trajectories and considering ways that we might combat this reactionary turn.

The Great Regression is a key intervention that will be of great value to all those concerned about recent developments and wondering how best to respond to this unprecedented challenge to the very core of liberal democracy and internationalism across the world today.

For more information, see: www.thegreatregression.eu

Heinrich Geiselberger, born 1977 in Waiblingen, Germany, is an editor at the leading German publisher Suhrkamp Verlag.

List of Contributors
Preface
Heinrich Geiselberger
1. Democracy Fatigue
Arjun Appadurai
2. Symptoms in Search of an Object and a Name
Zygmunt Bauman
3. Progressive and Regressive Politics in Late Neoliberalism
Donatella della Porta
4. Progressive Neoliberalism versus Reactionary Populism: A Hobsons Choice
Nancy Fraser
5. Populism or the Crisis of Liberal Elites: The Case of Israel
Eva Illouz
6. Majoritarian Futures
Ivan Krastev
7. Europe as refuge
Bruno Latour
8. Overcoming the Fear of Freedom
Paul Mason
9. Politics in the Age of Resentment. The Dark Legacy of the Enlightenment
Pankaj Mishra
10. The Courage to be Audacious
Robert Misik
11. Decivilisation. On regressive tendencies in Western democracies
Oliver Nachtwey
12. From Global Regression to Post-Capitalist Counter-Movements
César Rendueles
13. The Return of the Repressed as the Beginning of the End of Neoliberal Capitalism
Wolfgang Streeck
14. Dear President Juncker
David Van Reybrouck
15. The Populist Temptation
Slavoj Zizek