Wendy Brown

Wendy Brown (2016)

Wendy L. Brown (born 28 November 1955) is an American professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

Quotes

• Neoliberalism is essentially a form of governing that sees democracy as an obstacle, at best, or as an illegitimate intervention into the rule of the market, at worst.  For neoliberalism, rule by markets is understood as a form of governance that should be applied everywhere, not just to marketised goods, but to education, prisons, the organisation of state, and so on. So neoliberalism treats popular sovereignty, or decisions based on human agreement and deliberation, as inappropriate interference with the efficient market and the price mechanism.
  • Neoliberalism Has Eviscerated the Fabric of Social Life, interview with Wendy Brown by Adam Ostolski, Green European Journal, March 2017

• Terrorism conjoins with neoliberalism to heighten a sense of insecurity and even a sense that the nation state now fails to provide for the security of the people. That said, the chances of being killed in a terrorist attack remain very low in the order of possible dangers that a human being can face. A person is more likely to be killed by their own furniture than by a terrorist. So, we have fear and panic about improbable yet dramatic and unpredictable dangers, which is how terrorism works. It is supposed to make you frightened in a routine way by non-routine events, and it’s effective in that sense.
  • Neoliberalism Has Eviscerated the Fabric of Social Life, interview with Wendy Brown by Adam Ostolski, Green European Journal, March 2017