"There was an actual theorization within neoliberal circles about how you can use direct democracy. The Swiss people's party, the Austrian freedom party actually writing in the early 1990s about how 'we've always been suspicious of the masses. We always thought that democracy was a problem, and therefore we needed to come up with institutions to lock-in certain prerogatives of capital.' That was the assumption from the 1930s onward ... but what if now the elites believe in socialism more than the masses? What if the masses don't actually believe in socialism anymore? What if they are truer capitalists than the policy makers? Then maybe you can weaponize the masses against the elites. Something like 'direct democracy', the introduction of referendums etc ..."

from:
"Quinn Slobodian - Neo-liberal Globalism and the Backlash from Within"
   • Quinn Slobodian - Neo-liberal Globali...  

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