Imagining the Political : Neoliberal Adaptations and Civil Society in “Times of Crisis”
(2026) In Voluntas- Abstract
- Imagination shapes politics. It determines not only the futures we envision but the very forms of collective life we deem possible. Yet under neoliberal governance, imagination itself is under erasure; not merely the imagining of radical futures, but the conceptual boundaries of what can be imagined. Civil society, long imagined as a space of participation and solidarity beyond state and market, is recast within these narrowed horizons of thought, dismantling its political foundations. This article introduces the concept of iconoclasm to theorise how neoliberalism recasts civil society as depoliticised, technocratic, and governable, where market logics reduce politics to branding, risk management, and procedural compliance while... (More)
- Imagination shapes politics. It determines not only the futures we envision but the very forms of collective life we deem possible. Yet under neoliberal governance, imagination itself is under erasure; not merely the imagining of radical futures, but the conceptual boundaries of what can be imagined. Civil society, long imagined as a space of participation and solidarity beyond state and market, is recast within these narrowed horizons of thought, dismantling its political foundations. This article introduces the concept of iconoclasm to theorise how neoliberalism recasts civil society as depoliticised, technocratic, and governable, where market logics reduce politics to branding, risk management, and procedural compliance while foreclosing dissent. Grounded in the qualitative research in India, the article develops a tripartite framework: iconoclasm of the self (conduct), iconoclasm of imagination (thought), and iconoclasm of the new image (refusal). The analysis contends that resistance begins with iconoclasm, a refusal of the “good NGO” script, and that this gesture also unsettles civil society as the political form we recognise. Iconoclasm thus works as both an ending and a beginning, opening space for counter-conduct and reshaping the field of political imagination amid neoliberal transformation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/b6369b95-f24f-4de8-bb77-ee295f40833d
- author
- Banerjee, Soumi LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- submitted
- subject
- keywords
- civil society, neoliberalism, iconoclasm, political imagination, shrinking civic spaces, INGOs, India
- in
- Voluntas
- pages
- 18 pages
- publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- ISSN
- 0957-8765
- project
- Civic Governmentality: Rethinking Agency, Resilience, and the Reconfiguration of INGOs in India
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b6369b95-f24f-4de8-bb77-ee295f40833d
- date added to LUP
- 2026-02-18 14:01:14
- date last changed
- 2026-03-03 16:56:28
@article{b6369b95-f24f-4de8-bb77-ee295f40833d,
abstract = {{Imagination shapes politics. It determines not only the futures we envision but the very forms of collective life we deem possible. Yet under neoliberal governance, imagination itself is under erasure; not merely the imagining of radical futures, but the conceptual boundaries of what can be imagined. Civil society, long imagined as a space of participation and solidarity beyond state and market, is recast within these narrowed horizons of thought, dismantling its political foundations. This article introduces the concept of iconoclasm to theorise how neoliberalism recasts civil society as depoliticised, technocratic, and governable, where market logics reduce politics to branding, risk management, and procedural compliance while foreclosing dissent. Grounded in the qualitative research in India, the article develops a tripartite framework: iconoclasm of the self (conduct), iconoclasm of imagination (thought), and iconoclasm of the new image (refusal). The analysis contends that resistance begins with iconoclasm, a refusal of the “good NGO” script, and that this gesture also unsettles civil society as the political form we recognise. Iconoclasm thus works as both an ending and a beginning, opening space for counter-conduct and reshaping the field of political imagination amid neoliberal transformation.}},
author = {{Banerjee, Soumi}},
issn = {{0957-8765}},
keywords = {{civil society; neoliberalism; iconoclasm; political imagination; shrinking civic spaces; INGOs; India}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}},
series = {{Voluntas}},
title = {{Imagining the Political : Neoliberal Adaptations and Civil Society in “Times of Crisis”}},
year = {{2026}},
}