The belief that economic liberalism is conducive to democracy is deeply ingrained in modern societies. In line with Karl Polanyi, the International Karl Polanyi Society (IKPS) wants to challenge this belief. Historical analyses show the long-standing reservations of liberals like John Stuart Mill and Friedrich Hayek regarding democracy and decisions made by societal majorities. Today, the tensions of economic liberalism and democracy have become even more visible: neoliberal policies emphasizing privatization and marketization have increasingly undermined the capacity of states to address urgent societal challenges, such as widening social inequalities and accelerating climate breakdown.

The Fascism and Liberalism Blog investigates this relationship of fascism and economic liberalism yesterday, i.e. in the 1920s and 1930s, and today. Central questions that we want to discuss are: How do the intellectual foundations of (neo)liberalism relate to fascism? What are commonalities and differences of fascism and current forms of reactionary right-wing movements? And, in the words of Karl Polanyi, is the rise of current far-right movements again “made practically unavoidable by the liberals’ obstruction of any reform involving planning, regulation, or control”?

We publish every two weeks, always on Thursdays. The authors have been invited by the editors, their contributions are read and commented on, but all opinions are those of the authors themselves and do not reflect the position of the IKPS.