Neoliberalism or Else: The Discursive Foundations of Neoliberal Populism in the Czech Republic
This article examines the linkage of markets and democracy in the post-1989 Czech transition as a neoliberal populist discourse that delegitimized alternatives to the market as a return to authoritarianism. Using Laclau’s concept of equivalential linkages, I analyze Václav Klaus’ texts surrounding...
| Published in: | Czech Journal of International Relations |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institute of International Relations Prague
2023-08-01
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cjir.iir.cz/index.php/cjir/article/view/431 |
| Summary: | This article examines the linkage of markets and democracy in the post-1989 Czech transition as a neoliberal populist discourse that delegitimized alternatives to the market as a return to authoritarianism. Using Laclau’s concept of equivalential linkages, I analyze Václav Klaus’
texts surrounding the voucher privatization program to determine how he formulated this linkage and communicated it to the public. Framing
markets as natural, essential, and fundamentally Czech, Klaus constructed the people as a virtuous community of market individuals while othering
those who opposed markets as communist holdouts and, elitists. Klaus further legitimized marketization through identification with international
neoliberal projects and thinkers. Through his moralized and dichotomized discourse, Klaus communicated to the public that there could be no freedom
without markets, nor markets without freedom: a circular formulation that continues to influence Central and Eastern European political economy. |
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| ISSN: | 0323-1844 2570-9429 |