The Choice of Civil War

Dardot et al. now paint neoliberalism as a form of political and economic warfare, claiming that what has widely been perceived as the gradual emergence of a new governmental rationality, a capillary production of economic subjects, or a transformation in the structures of economic life, is first and foremost to be understood as a kind of civil war, a frequently one-sided class struggle that has recently taken particularly virulent forms across the globe, from the Trump ascendancy to the juridical coup against the Partido dos Trabalhadores that brought Jair Bolsonaro to power in Brazil, from the securitarian onslaught against the gilets jaunes in France to the consolidation of authoritarian and exceptional forms of rule in the heartlands as well as the intermundia of global capitalism. Far from constituting a bloodless technocratic rationality, neoliberalism now appears as a fundamentally political form, one that is always strategically oriented against socialism, trade unionism and the welfare state. -- Alberto Toscano * New Left Review *
The New Way of the World is the best modern realization of Foucault's pioneering approach to the history of neoliberalism. It wonderfully explores the European roots and branches of the neoliberal thought collective over the twentieth century, and warns that unthinking misrepresentations of its political project as espousing 'laissez-faire' has had the effect of allowing the Left to submit to its siren song. -- Philip Mirowski (praise for The New Way of the World)
To understand these debates on neoliberalism, the book by Christian Laval and Pierre Dardot on the 'neoliberal society' offers us analytical keys.This monument of scholarship draws on the history of ideas, philosophy and sociology. -- Le Monde, (praise for The New Way of the World)
Extremely scholarly, this book is an insistent invitation to push theoretical and social critique of the present order beyond the standard analyses. -- Le Monde diplomatique (praise for The New Way of the World)
For the most maximalist theorists of neoliberalism in thought and practice, look no further. -- Quinn Slobodian, author of Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism (praise for Never Ending Nightmare)
Dardot and Laval present the post-2008 radicalization of neoliberalism as a nightmare and an opportunity. The nightmare is the stranglehold of a system of norms and treaties that benefit the oligarchy while immiserating the rest of us. The opportunity stems from the complete break between the elites and everybody else; neoliberalism has lost even the veneer of legitimacy. The challenge facing the Left is whether we can develop the political vision - and capacity - that will make this an opportunity for us. -- Jodi Dean, author of The Communist Horizon and Crowds and Party (praise for Never Ending Nightmare)
Building on their previous historical analysis of neoliberal rationality, Dardot and Laval now paint a much starker, more terrifying portrait of neoliberalism, that is alert to its violence and unyielding political logic. Never Ending Nightmare presents us with a bleak but compelling account of how neoliberal government has abandoned all pretence of democratic legitimacy. -- William Davies, author of Nervous States: How feeling took over the world (praise for Never Ending Nightmare)
Dardot and Laval's provocative study offers important insights with regard to the current state of radicalization of neoliberalism. Although the interpretation of the EU as a quintessential ordoliberal project will surely trigger objections, their emphasis on legal norms as social technology to advance neoliberal transformations is very well taken. Critical examination of forms of neoliberal oligarchy goes beyond staples of post-democracy. Aficionados of both national populism and traditional party organizations will dislike their message for those on the left who are keen to develop an alternative imaginary of the future. -- Dieter Plehwe, co-editor of The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective (praise for Never Ending Nightmare)
This book represents much-needed commentary to the lectures delivered by Michel Foucault at the Collège de France in 1978/1979, entitled Birth of Biopolitics, and a compelling analysis of neoliberal governmentality in the era of capitalist financialization. -- Emanuele Leonardi, Theory, Culture & Society (praise for Never Ending Nightmare)
Erudite and provocative. -- Bruce Robbins, LA Review of Books (praise for Never Ending Nightmare)
This new and exciting translation of Dardot's and Laval's Common: On Revolution in the 21st Century is the best account of the communal idea available in contemporary theory and criticism. Philosophically rich and archeologically exhaustive, it stands as a founding text in the growing field of commons studies that will appeal to a wide variety of teachers, scholars, and activists who share a commitment to exploring a new reason of the common in everyday activities and practices. -- Davide Panagia, Professor of Political Science, University of California Los Angeles, USA (praise for Common: On Revolution in the 21st Century)
If we accept the authors' repeated contention that our present and future are profoundly bleak, we must equally recognize that a new way of engaging our present and future in common is required. This new way of engaging is precisely what Dardot and Laval offer under the name the common-the political principle that informs the collaborative, deliberative activity whereby new customs and institutions may be formed to transcend the social and political conditions threatening humanity and our world itself. -- Confluence: The Journal of the AGLSP (praise for Common: On Revolution in the 21st Century)
The common has emerged as a key concept in 21st century struggles for justice. Dardot and Laval not only explain why, they also inspire us to build and strengthen commoning movements. An important intervention. -- Jodi Dean, Professor of Political Science, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA and author of The Communist Horizon (praise for Common: On Revolution in the 21st Century)
In the past few years, movements across the planet have fought bravely for the re­appropriation of plundered and privatized goods, while revitalizing the critique of property, understood as the legal form structuring our political economy and everyday life. Common is a sweeping, erudite and combative attempt to draw the theoretical balance-sheet of these movements and critiques, to anatomize their spontaneous philosophies, and to transform 'common' into a political principle for a new model of revolutionary politics that could break through the impasses of contemporary radical thought and practice. An indispensable contribution to one of the central debates of our time. -- Alberto Toscano, Co-director of Centre for Philosophy and Critical Thought, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK and author of Fanaticism (praise for Common: On Revolution in the 21st Century)
What do you do after you have written one of the most devastating criticisms of neoliberal reason? Dardot and Laval's answer is to turn to the exact opposite to neoliberalism's reduction of nature to private property and society to competition, to the common. The common is framed here not as something lost in precapitalist mists, or something that only appears sporadically in moments of revolt, but as that which must be instituted and created by practices. There are no shortages of criticisms of the existing order, but Common is the rare book that takes the next step, not just imagining a new world, but showing us the conditions for its creation. -- Jason Read, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern Maine, USA, author of The Politics of Transindividuality (praise for Common: On Revolution in the 21st Century)
After their massive tome on Karl Marx, Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval strike again, this time with an even more wide-ranging militant investigation into the common. Combining long­term legal and conceptual history with classical and present-day political theory, they invite us to leave behind the habitual focus on either the tragic story of the enclosure of the commons or the heroic example of the Paris Commune and instead argue for an all-encompassing understanding of the common as the pivotal ground for a future politics. This is a must-read for each and everyone interested in the shared practice of instituting new forms of life in common. -- Bruno Bosteels, author of The Actuality of Communism (praise for Common: On Revolution in the 21st Century)