Fear as a Factor of Legitimation of Neoliberal Misgovernment

Abstract

The inequality defining our times compels to reconsider the question of what kind of legitimacy makes possible to sustain such an unfair world and why this is not enough to give rise to an organized response to dissatisfaction. Here we contend that such legitimacy is made up by an accumulation of elements, prominent among which are the politics of fear. The result is a widespread imposition of neo-liberal policies oriented towards the same goal. We can see this in the case of European countries hit by the debt as well as in the more recent case of Brazil, an example of what someone has already called «soft coups».