The Illiberal Age: The Politics of Entrenchment

Edited by Marlène Laruelle with Aaron Irion and John Chrobák

The year 2026 was a year of ambiguous trajectories in global politics. In Hungary and Serbia, Viktor Orbán and Aleksandar Vučić were democratically and peacefully defeated. In Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva secured reelection by defeating Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the now imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro. In the United States, the “vibe shift” inaugurated by Donald Trump’s victorious return in 2024 evaporated, and his approval ratings and party suffered mightily at the midterm elections losing control of both houses of Congress. And yet, 2026 was also the year of major electoral breakthroughs for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), and the year that solidified Marine Le Pen’s place as the frontrunner for the French presidency, with elections coming in early 2027. What is clear is that, while some countries are turning away from illiberal governments, elsewhere illiberal forces continue to gain ground.

Some may still hope, naively, that illiberalism is merely a temporary political backlash that can be reversed, allowing societies to return to the previous order. Yet illiberalism is becoming an increasingly normal feature of our political and cultural lives, deeply embedded in the social fabric, intellectual production, media ecosystems, and collective imaginaries of contemporary societies.

Produced by the Illiberalism Studies Program, The Illiberal Age: The Politics of Entrenchment brings together scholars and analysts to explore the transformations of the New Right, the remaking of political legitimacy, the electoral crossroads ahead, and the possibilities of imagining alternative futures. Together, these contributions invite us to think beyond electoral victories and defeats to understand how illiberalism is reshaping the world we inhabit.

Marlène Laruelle – The Illiberal Age: The Politics of Entrenchment

SECTION I – The Illiberal Zeitgeist

Henry Tonks – Why Liberalism Really Failed: Not Betrayal but Stasis

Richard Hayton – Populist Conservatism and the Reshaping of the Right In British Politics

Sam Hamad – The Rise of “Thin” Illiberalism in Britain: The UK’s Far Right Moves from the Margins to the Mainstream

Norah MacKendrick – Renegade Science: The Politics of MAHA’s Illiberal Health Agenda

Sam Taylor Hill – Football, Illiberalism, and the Struggle for Working-Class Belonging

Marijana Grbeša – Trump the Avenger: Pop Cultural and Superhero References in Trump’s Social Media Persona

Raphaël Demias-Morisset – New Right Technological Agenda(s): Deregulating AI and Digital Capitalism for Illiberal Purposes

SECTION II – The Remaking of Political Order

Reijer Hendrikse – Liquid Feudalism: The Emperor’s New Old Clothes

Joël E. Schnapp – Trump, MAGA, and Religion