The neoliberal revolution, which began in the 1970s, was an extremely successful attempt to roll back the gains of the post-war welfare state and of liberation movements, and to restore the dominance of business interests across the world. In recent years, many Soundings articles have sought to interpret these developments through conjunctural analysis. This collection brings some of this work together, to explore what is at stake in our current and recent political battles and call into question the foundational assumptions of the neoliberal order. With contributions from Stuart Hall, Doreen Massey and Michael Rustin - the founding editors of Soundings - John Clarke, and an introduction by Sally Davison and Jonathan Rutherford, this volume represents a key moment in Soundings' analysis of neoliberalism. Throughout the collection, authors examine issues on which the whole of the left needs to focus, including political parties, activists, social movements, the trade unions and other civil society movements. Hegemonies, including the current neoliberal hegemony, can be disrupted at moments of crisis.
Analyses of such moments, such as those in this Soundings collection, develop our understanding of how to politically intervene and how to formulate an alternative to neoliberal hegemonies.