Freedom and Social Order: On Democracy and Authoritarian Liberalism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14422/pen.v81.i315.y2025.012Keywords:
bourgeois society, State, authoritarian liberalism, Carl SchmittAbstract
Bourgeois society and its state cannot do without authoritarianism. The state is the independent organisation of bourgeois society. It is its concentrated power and organised force especially in order to control the troublesome masses whose struggle to make ends meet is seen as a threat to its freedom and tranquillity, its order and law. In this context, authoritarian liberalism calls for strong government to ensure the depoliticization of (mass) society. The term authoritarian liberalism was originally introduced to characterise Carl Schmitt’s proclamation of a strong state and a free economy in 1932. Its meaning is perhaps best summarised with reference to Hayek’s contention, made in support of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, that a dictatorship might be more liberal in its policies than a mass democratic assembly. In a global political economy characterised by a crushing neoliberal stasis, entrenched class relations and significant right-wing populist movements in Western Europe and beyond, and against the backdrop of right-wing populist governments, what happens next is open to question.
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