The Twilight of Progressive Neoliberalism

Abstract

Quinn Slobodian’s work has risen to public prominence in the last eight years, especially after the publication of Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism (2018). His books have been translated into 10 languages, and alongside his role as Professor of International History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, he is currently a Guggenheim Fellow for 2025–2026. Project Syndicate put him on a list of 30 Forward Thinkers and Prospect named him one of the World’s 25 Top Thinkers. In this interview, Slobodian discusses the importance of the late 1990s anti-globalisation movement in his intellectual formation, and he reflects on the need to re-historicise the 1990s as not simply a period of unfettered globalisation, an argument he develops in Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy (2021). The interview then turns to his understanding and use of the term ‘neoliberalism’, and how we can find the fingerprints of the contemporary far right in the history of neoliberalism, as illustrated in his new book, Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right (2025).