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On “progressive neoliberalism” from a discursive perspective:“Progress” as an empty signifier
Many critical thinkers agree that it is the inequalities and injustices of the global neoliberalorder which have brought about “the populist explosion” (Butler, 2016; Harvey, 2018; Judis,2016; Mouffe, 2016; Taguieff, 2016; Žižek, 2018).1All the latest populist developments2–from the left-wing populism in Greece, Spain, or Italy to the right-wing populism in France,Austria, or Finland – are seen from this perspective “as if masses of people throughout theworldhadstoppedbelievinginthe reigningcommonsensethat hasunderpinnedpolitical dom-ination for the last several decades,” as Nancy Fraser puts it (2019, p. 8). An important ques-tion then arises: what made the ideology of neoliberalism so successful that it assumed therole of the “common sense” reigning globally?