How the West Lost the Peace

"Philipp Ther joins sound wisdom to his formidable talents as a historian in this study of Europe's alarming drift towards populism. He knows that we cannot understand politics without serious attention to economics, he understands Europe as extending from Ireland to the Pacific and beyond, and he writes beautifully. His urgently needed book is a pleasure to read, and if its subjects are often grim, the lessons Ther draws illuminate a way forward." John Connelly, University of California, Berkeley "Philipp Ther has written a sad but clear-eyed tribute to the ethics of Karl Polanyis The Great Transformation. His analysis of the social divisions that preceded political polarization and the spurious link between capitalism and democracy exposes the global fiasco of the Wests neoliberal triumphalism." Maria Todorova, University of Illinois "Covering disturbing trends in Hungary and Poland, COVID, Brexit, Trump and the Ukraine war, [Philipp Thers] observations have a cautionary touch of Christopher Isherwoods 'I Am a Camera' approach, coupled with accessible, detailed analysis." Sydney Morning Herald Ther moves deftly through Europe, focusing on its key economies, to explain the domestic and international effects that neoliberalism has had in each nation. What How the West Lost Peace reveals is that the growth of the far right, and the geopolitical instability that has led to the war in Ukraine, have their origin in the reorganization of Europes economies following the defeat of socialist forces and the growth of neoliberal hegemony. Jacobin

Philipp Ther is Professor of Central European History at the University of Vienna.

Preface: The Great Transformation after 1989 1. From Neoliberalism to Antiliberalism: The Enduring Relevance of Karl Polanyi 2. Lost Social and Political Equilibrium: The USA after the Cold War 3. The Price of Unity: Germanys Shock Therapy in International Comparison 4. La Crisi: Italys Decline as a Portent for Europe 5. The West, Turkey and Russia: A History of Estrangement 6. Eastern Europe as a Pioneer: Polanyis Pendulum Swings to the Right 7. Systemic Competition during the Covid-19 Pandemic Afterword: A Bad End: The War against Ukraine Postscript and Acknowledgements Notes