Alan Freeman and Radhika Desai to speak Monday 5pm

The recent votes in Western countries, such as the election of Trump and Brexit, certainly witnessed a resurgence of hard right forces, and most observers have focussed on this. The speakers will address the wider political and geopolitical economy of the more fundamental problems these votes represent, in particular the discrediting of the political establishment in the West.

The talks will cover issues such as the prolonged dominance of neoliberalism and the professionalisation of political parties, set against the economic background which is provoking it: the prolonged stagnation of the Western economies, neoliberalism’s failure to solve this, the phenomenal rise of the Chinese economy, and the challenge to US dominance represented by Eurasian convergence and the failure of the US’s Middle Eastern strategy.

They will also consider the rise of new forces of the left and what they need to do to get a purchase on this situation.