Zed Books Resistance in the Age of Austerity: Nationalism, the Failure of the Left and the Return of God

In November 1999 the first protest movements that became 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 substantial progress in formulating a coherent alternative to neoliberalism. This lack of an alternative has become particularly poignant in the aftermath of the recent credit crisis, where 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. Taking in a contrasting array of case studies from around the world - from the failures of the World Social Forum 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. Review '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 capa