Public Lecture: The Political Economy of "Populism": perspectives from Karl Polanyi

The talk will be based on his book, The Rise of the Capital-state and Neo-Nationalism. A New Polanyian Moment (Global Populisms Series, Volume 03, November 2022), which explains the global rise of populism from a critical political economic perspective. Drawing from Karl Polanyi, Professor Svitych will invite participants to understand populism as a reaction against the expansion of market freedoms. He will highlight the links between free market reforms, declining state legitimacy, and identity-based mobilization. In doing so, he will defend the argument that populist politicians provide nationalist solutions to help voters cope with multiple insecurities generated by marketization of states and societies. Insights from Karl Polanyi, then, point toward inter-related nature of state, capital, and identity politicization.