New totalitarianism

New totalitarianism is a term coined by ethicist John McMurtry to describe the political economy implied by so-called market theology; in other words, the ethics resolved wholly by the global markets with existing state power balances.

The term is used pejoratively in the more intellectual elements of the anti-globalization movement. The rise of neoclassical philosophy is identified as the major intellectual rationale which fuels globalization, and this is itself seen as a form of oppression.

There are many similar and alternative terms, some verging on paranoia, implying an inability to comprehend variances in value systems between peoples or regions of the planet, e.g. market totalitarianism, market fascism, pizzaisation of the planet and "crapitalism", although those terms are in general too narrowly defined. The most robust alternative term is global economic monoculture, invoked often by Greens to imply the cancer-like expansion of trade economies at the expense of ecosystem integrity - a central concern of green politics.

McMurtry, who has actually used the term "Cancer Stage of Capitalism" as the title of a book, adheres to this view as well, but has coined New Totalitarianism seemingly as a simple parallel to terms like "neo-conservative".

ee also

*fascism, corporate police state, monoculture
*world government, anti-capitalism