Security, left populism, and abolitionist politics in the age of neo-fascism
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article makes the case for a left populist challenge to hegemonic “security” imaginaries and policies. It argues that the left should invest more energy in building popular support for alternative frameworks of national and global security that prioritize the real risks to people’s safety in the 21st century. It also shows that a left populist rethink of security should be developed in dialogue with abolitionist analyses of racial capitalism and the institutions of state violence that uphold it. It argues that we need deeper analysis of the messy, hybrid, and transitional phases of the abolitionist project – or transitional futures in which military and policing institutions continue to play an important yet shrinking role in security imaginaries and policies. A left populist rethink of security can in this sense be understood as a transitional strategy on the way towards abolitionist futures.
Source: Globalizations
Author: Michael J. Albert
Institution: University of Edinburgh
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7160409390