Global Whiplash: Trade Shocks, Xenophobic Populism, and the Fall of Neoliberal Trade in the U.S.

• In Event: 40420 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5: Neoliberal Politics 2

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that as in previous eras of market liberalization, the initial drive to institute neoliberal trade agreements paved the way for the rise of authoritarian, illiberal movements decades later. I consider this dynamic in the U.S. specifically, exploring how right-wing xenophobic populism became a force against free trade agreements in the early 1990s, paving the way for Trumpism in the 2010s. The populist responses to the Global Financial Crisis (2008-2011) from the left and the right (e.g., Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump) presented contending post-neoliberal politics in the U.S. But only ethno-nationalist populism, led by Trump, gained sufficient elite support from an ultra-conservative faction of the corporate rich to dominate anti-globalization politics after 2010 in the U.S. I draw from Polanyi, Arendt, and others to narrate a “cultural political economy” (Munck 2024) of the rise of xenophobic populism in the wake of a series of global shocks that upended neoliberal trade. Trump’s authoritarian politics on trade draw from xenophobic White nationalism to performatively elevate a perception of outside threats while offering as a salve tariffs, trade, and toughness. Trump’s campaigns and presidencies crafted an “alliance between the mob and capital” to preserve elite privileges while channeling popular anger toward scapegoats. These cultural politics directly intersect with and shape the wide political crisis of neoliberal capitalism.

Author

• Michael Dreiling, University of Oregon