“With remarkable intellectual reach, Paolo Gerbaudo draws on centuries of political thought to analyse and tackle big questions arising from society’s ‘recoil’ from the failed project that was/is neoliberal globalisation. This is a vital and timely text for a fuller understanding of how the left should react to the pandemic in order to ‘build back better.’ ”
—Ann Pettifor, author of The Case for The Green New Deal
“A fascinating journey from neoliberal hegemony, through anti-globalist populist backlash, to the neo-statism of the pandemic world; it is a critical text for progressives seeking to orient themselves in a world marked by both dirigisme and cultural reaction. Gerbaudo rightly argues that a left populism in the post-pandemic world must centre on the deepening of political and economic democracy in order to combat a right-wing politics of domination and control.”
—Grace Blakeley, author of Stolen
“In this intriguing book that weaves together the ideas of authors such as Hegel and Polanyi, Paolo Gerbaudo follows the swinging pendulum of global capitalism moving from its expansive form to the inwardness of statism. The global crisis of 2008 and the pandemic have ushered in a great recoil in which Western capitalism looks like a giant pulled down by its own strength, and the return of the interventionist state is viewed as a possible solution to its ills.”
—Nadia Urbinati, author of Me, the People
“Counter-movements against neoliberal globalisation have been gathering momentum for a number of years, but are now reaching a critical mass. The Great Recoil provides a definitive account of how the nation state has been revived and transformed, bringing much-needed clarity and critique to the vast political questions of our present moment.”
—William Davies author of This is Not Normal
“What will replace neo-liberalism? Will it be a new big state capitalism overseen by a populist political right? In this timely and important book, Paolo Gerbaudo shows how the left can contest the meaning of sovereignty, protection, and control, and put forward its own progressive populism founded on economic and social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and radical republican politics.”
—Stuart White, Jesus College, Oxford
“Persuasive … [Gerbaudo’s] historical analysis gives his prescriptions for the left heightened urgency.”
—Jasmine Liu, Chicago Review of Books
“Gerbaudo avoids a simplistic account of neoliberalism … [he] is an astute and rigorous analyst, and The Great Recoil is perhaps the most thorough yet compact synthesis of the crises and challenges that have reset the parameters for state action in the twenty-first century.”
—Justin H. Vassallo, Baffler
“Stimulating.”
—Marco Bitschnau, LSE Review of Books
“Brilliant … essential reading for those interested in the current state of European social democracy.”
—Michael Burleigh, Literary Review
“Asks interesting questions for those looking to navigate a pathway between right-wing populism and liberal cosmopolitanism.”
—Eoin Ó Broin, Irish Times
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