ABSTRACT
The rise of what is called populism has opened a new, deep cleavage in Western democracies, between the assembled forces of social and economic liberalism on the one hand and new popular movements and parties on the other that have been rapidly gaining support in recent years. Increasing debt, rising inequality, and unstable growth, especially but not exclusively in capitalism’s core countries, indicates a general crisis of governability. Moving on to the global level, the decline of the United States may leave global capitalism without the carrier state and hegemon of last resort that capitalism has historically needed for its progress. In terms of international political economy, liberation of capitalism from national government and national democracy is glorified as a transition to “global governance”. Ungoverned, or under-governed, capitalism under global governance means two things: capitalism emancipated from democratic control, and capitalism lacking political stability.
