Global Trade Shocks

A Cultural Political-Economic Analysis of Neoliberalism's Collapse, Trumpism, and the Struggle to Democratize Trade

By: Michael C. Dreiling

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eText | 26 April 2026

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This timely and important book examines the political and symbolic unraveling of neoliberalism through the unexpected lens of global trade. Long hailed as a driver of growth and integration, trade became, after 2008, a flashpoint for reactionary populism. Donald Trump's rise to power exemplifies this shift: channelling economic insecurity into nationalism, xenophobia, and authoritarian spectacle. His use of tariffs redefined trade not as policy, but as performance—projecting strength, coercing allies, and bypassing multilateral norms. This book goes beyond surface narratives to explore the deeper transformations in global capitalism. It situates the rise of Trumpism within broader shifts toward authoritarian capitalism, exposing the cracks in neoliberal consensus and the failures of technocratic globalization. Trade politics, once the domain of corporate centrism, became a cultural and geopolitical battlefield.

Drawing from Marxist theory, Polanyian insights, and Piketty's analysis of inequality, the book maps the global arc of economic dislocation, elite realignment, and democratic crisis. At its core, Global Trade Shocks asks: what happens when trade becomes a weapon of authoritarian and imperial reaction? Rich in interdisciplinary perspective, the book speaks to scholars of political economy, international relations, globalization studies, and sociology—while offering essential insights into the contested futures of democracy, global trade, and post-neoliberal possibility.