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Global Transformation and Local Counter Movements: The Prospects for Democracy Under Neoliberalism

Department of Sociology, California State University, 6000 J Street, Sacramento CA 95819, USA, Mridula{at}csus.edu

John Walton

Department of Sociology, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis CA 95616, USA

This article compares Mexico and India’s experiences with neoliberalism to propose that the collapse of the developmentalist state generates countermovements. In both nations, neoliberalism is associated with the decline of the one-party dominant system, and a restructuring of civil society. Variations emerge in the timing of democratization in these countries. In India, democratization preceded neoliberal reforms, whereas in Mexico democratization followed neoliberal reforms, but in both cases democratization mitigates the effects of neoliberalism on civil society. Conclusions drawn from the comparative analysis of Mexico and India concur with Karl Polanyi’s proposition that there is a double movement of marketization and protectionist countermovements. The case studies suggest a pattern to these countermovements. Actors are confronted abruptly with threats to their well-being; not only economic threats but also environmental, political, and symbolic threats. The threatened value in each case is a former entitlement, typically a form of protection ensured by the state. Thus, even in the presence of countermovements, neoliberalism mediates a divergence of state and civil society relationships creating uncertain futures for democratic possibilities.

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