ABSTRACT
To be able to successfully confront Far Right-wing movements, such as those of Duterte in the Philippines and Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India, it is first necessary to have the theoretical tools to understand them. In this chapter, it is argued that ‘populism’ is not suited to this task and instead proposes the theoretical framework of ‘counterrevolution’. Broadly defined, counterrevolution is a social reaction to a revolution. There are two types of counterrevolution. The first is the counterrevolution that is a heated upper- and middle-class response to a lower-class revolution. The second is that directed at a form of political rule that stems from a revolutionary process but one that has since been institutionalised, for instance, a movement against liberal democracy. This chapter analyses the causes and dynamics of the current counterrevolution against liberal democracy and proposes six initiatives that progressives must take if they are to remain in the political game.
