Neo-feudalism

Theoretic rebirth of antique governance

Not to be confused with Refeudalization.

Neo-feudalism or new feudalism is a theorized contemporary rebirth of policies of governance, economy, and public life, reminiscent of those which were present in many feudal societies. Such aspects include, but are not limited to: Unequal rights and legal protections for common people and for nobility,[1] dominance of societies by a small and powerful elite, a lack of social mobility, and relations of lordship and serfdom between the elite and the people, where the former are rich and the latter poor.[2]

## Use and etymology

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Generally, the term neo-feudalism refers to 21st century forms of feudalism which in some respects resemble the societal models of Medieval western Europe. In its early use, the term was deployed as both a criticism of the political Left and of the Right.[citation needed]

On the other hand, Jürgen Habermas used the term Refeudalisierung ("refeudalisation") in his 1962 The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere to criticise the privatisation of the forms of communication that he believed had produced an Enlightenment-era public sphere. Habermas did not use the term neo-feudalism, but later commentators have noted that his ideas were similar.[3] Correspondingly, in 1992 Immanuel Wallerstein expressed views on global development, listing neo-feudalism among three other variants. By neo-feudalism, Wallerstein referred to autarky regions with a localised hierarchy and hi-tech goods available only for the elite.[4]

## Description

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The concept of neo-feudalism may focus on economics, though it is not limited to it. Among the issues claimed to be associated with the idea of neo-feudalism in contemporary society, are: class stratification, globalization, neoconservative foreign policy, multinational corporations, and "neo-corporatism".[5]

According to Les Johnston, Clifford Shearing's theoretical approach of neo-feudalism has been influential.[6] Shearing "use[s] this term in a limited sense to draw attention to the emergence of domains of mass private property that are 'gated' in a variety of ways".[7][8]

Lucia Zedner responds that this use of neo-feudalism is too limited in scope; Shearing's comparison does not draw parallels with earlier governance explicitly enough. Zedner prefers more definitive endorsements.[9]

Neo-feudalism entails an order defined by commercial interests and administered in large areas, according to Bruce Baker, who argues that this does not fully describe the extent of cooperation between state and non-state policing.[10] The significance of the comparison to feudalism, for Randy Lippert and Daniel O'Connor, is that corporations have power similar to states' governance powers.[11] Similarly, Sighard Neckel has argued that the rise of financial-market-based capitalism in the later twentieth century has represented a 'refeudalisation' of the economy.[12]

The widening of the wealth gap, as poor and marginalized people are excluded from the state's provision of security, can result in neo-feudalism, argues Marina Caparini, who says this has already happened in South Africa.[13] Neo-feudalism is made possible by the commodification of policing, and signifies the end of shared citizenship, says Ian Loader.[14] A primary characteristic of neo-feudalism is that individuals' public lives are increasingly governed by business corporations, as Martha K. Huggins finds.[1]

John Braithwaite notes that neo-feudalism brings a different approach to governance since business corporations, in particular, have this specialized need for loss reduction.[15]

During the course of the years 2020-2021, Yanis Varoufakis has written and lectured much about his theory concerning neo-feudalism. He posits that traditional capitalism has evolved into a new feudal-like structure of economies and societies, which he refers to as 'techno-feudalism'. Varoufakis explains that unlike in capitalism, feudal economies have the quality of being dominated by very small groups of people, and predetermine the behaviour of markets as they see fit. Taking the example of massive online enterprises such as Facebook, Amazon and others, Varoufakis noted that such venues are primarily governed by the whims of single individuals and small teams, and thus are not truly capitalist markets of free trade, but rather feudal markets of stringent control.[16][17][18][19][20] Others, such as Jeremy Pitt, have raised similar opinions and concerns, also noting that techno-feudalism threatens freedom of information over the Internet.[21]

Similar concepts had been used by Uruguayan American professor Jorge Majfud since 2010.[22][23]

## In popular culture and literature

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After the 2008 financial crisis, American technology billionaire Nick Hanauer stated that "our country [i.e. the United States] is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society".[24] His views were echoed by, amongst others, the Icelandic billionaire Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson.[25] The idea that the early 21st century boom and 2008 Icelandic financial crisis saw the country returning to feudal structures of power was also expressed by a range of Icelandic novelists, among them Sigrún Davíðsdóttir in Samhengi hlutanna, Bjarni Bjarnason in Mannorð, Bjarni Harðarson in Sigurðar saga fóts, Böðvar Guðmundsson in Töfrahöllin, and Steinar Bragi in Hálendið: Skáldsaga.[26][27]

Similar ideas are found in some Anglophone fiction.[28] For example, Frank Herbert's Dune series of novels is set in the distant future with a neo-feudalistic galactic empire known as the Imperium. In these novels, after a series of wars known as the Butlerian Jihad humanity has come to prohibit all kinds of "thinking machine technology", even its simpler forms.[29] Subsequently, the political balance of power in the Dune Universe gradually became dominant by a myriad of royal houses, each dominating one or several planets. Albeit operating in the distant future, the social and political dynamics of said royal houses are similar in many respects to those previously seen in medieval times.

In David Brin's near-future science fiction novel Existence, American politicians campaign on legally transitioning the United States into a neo-feudalist society.

In the year 2020, head of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab published a book titled COVID-19: The Great Reset.[30] The book argues that the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for politicians and governments to change the world's economies, societies and structures of government, by introducing a system of "Stakeholder Capitalism", doing so via the guidelines of a plan known as 'The Great Reset'.[31] Schwab also refers to his goals as "The Fourth Industrial Revolution".[32] Other authors have criticized The Great Reset as being a form of Neo-Feudalism.[33][34][35]

## See also

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* Anarcho-capitalism
* Ascribed status
* Dark Enlightenment
* Neo-medievalism
* Neotribalism
* Organic crisis
* Songbun
* Jim Crow economy
* Bullshit Jobs ("managerial feudalism")

## References

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1. ^ a b Huggins, Martha K. (2000). "Urban Violence and Police Privatization in Brazil: Blended Invisibility". Social Justice. 27 (2). ISSN 1043-1578.[permanent dead link]
2. ^ Kuttner, Robert; V. Stone, Katherine (April 8, 2020). "The Rise of Neo-Feudalism". The American Prospect.
3. ^ Sighard Neckel, ‘Refeudalisierung der Ökonomie: Zum Strukturwandel kapitalistischer Wirtschaft Archived 2020-08-09 at the Wayback Machine’, MPIfG Working Paper 10/6 (Cologne: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, July 2010), pp. 11-12.
4. ^ Wallerstein I. Capitalist civilization. -Binghamton (N.Y.), 1992.
Malinovsky P. V. (2001). "Globalisation as a Civilization Shaping Process". Russia and the Modern World (Россия и современный мир) (2): 7 (5–30). ISSN 1726-5223.
5. ^ Hartmann, Thom (6 November 2002), "Time to Remove the Bananas... and Return Our Republic to Democracy", CommonDreams.org
6. ^ Johnston, Les (1999). "Private Policing in Context". European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research. 7 (2): 175–196\. doi:10.1023/A:1008753326991. S2CID 141224688.
7. ^ Shearing, Clifford (2001). "Punishment and the Changing Face of the Governance". Punishment & Society. 3 (2): 203–220\. doi:10.1177/1462474501003002001. S2CID 145217478.
8. ^ Shearing, Clifford D. (1983). "Private Security: Implications for Social Control". Social Problems. 30 (5): 493–506\. doi:10.1525/sp.1983.30.5.03a00020. ISSN 0037-7791.
9. ^ Zedner, Lucia (2006). "Policing Before and After the Police: The Historical Antecedents of Contemporary Crime Control". The British Journal of Criminology. 46 (1): 78–96\. doi:10.1093/bjc/azi043.
10. ^ Baker, Bruce (2004). "Protection from crime: what is on offer for Africans?" (PDF). Journal of Contemporary African Studies. 22 (2): 165–188\. doi:10.1080/cjca0258900042000230005. S2CID 154073899. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-17.
11. ^ Lippert, Randy; O'Connor, Daniel (2006). "Security Intelligence Networks and the Transformation of Contract Private Security". Policing & Society. 16 (1): 50–66\. doi:10.1080/10439460500399445. S2CID 143659553.
12. ^ Sighard Neckel, "Refeudalisierung der Ökonomie: Zum Strukturwandel kapitalistischer Wirtschaft Archived 2020-08-09 at the Wayback Machine", MPIfG Working Paper 10/6 (Cologne: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, July 2010).
13. ^ Caparini, Marina (2006). "Applying a Security Governance Perspective to the Privatisation of Security" (PDF). In Bryden, Alan; Caparini, Marina (eds.). Private Actors and Security Governance. LIT Verlag. pp. 263–282\. ISBN 978-3-8258-9840-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19.
14. ^ Loader, Ian (1999). "Consumer Culture and the Commodification of Policing and Security". Sociology. 33 (2): 373–392\. doi:10.1177/S003803859900022X. S2CID 144943479.
15. ^ Braithwaite, John (2000). "The New Regulatory State and the Transformation of Criminology" (PDF). The British Journal of Criminology. 40 (2): 222–238\. doi:10.1093/bjc/40.2.222.
16. ^ "Techno-Feudalism is Taking over | by Yanis Varoufakis". 28 June 2021.
17. ^ "Techno-Feudalism is taking over - Yanis Varoufakis". 9 July 2021.
18. ^ "Yanis Varoufakis: Capitalism has become 'techno-feudalism'".
19. ^ "Yanis Varoufakis on Alternatives to Techno-Feudal Capitalism". 8 September 2021.
20. ^ "Techno Feudalism: What is it and how it increases inequality in the society?". 2 July 2021.
21. ^ "The BigTech-Academia-Parliamentary Complex and Techno-Feudalism". 24 September 2020.
22. ^ "El pensador Majfud y un anticipo de hace una década sobre el "neofeudalismo"". June 2025.
23. ^ "Qué democracias nos promete la nueva Guerra Fría"". March 29, 2014.
24. ^ Nick Hanauer (July 2014). "The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats". Politico Magazine. Archived from the original on 2015-08-28. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
25. ^ Thor Bjorgolfsson and Andrew Cave. Billions to Bust—and Back: How I Made, Lost, and Rebuilt a Fortune, and What I Learned on the Way. London: Profile, 2014. p. 194.
26. ^ Hall, Alaric (2018). "Fornaldarsögur and Financial Crisis: Bjarni Bjarnason's Mannorð". The Legendary Legacy: Transmission and Reception of the Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda. Humanities Commons: 351–375\. doi:10.17613/M6V97ZR22. ISBN 978-87-408-3103-0.
27. ^ Cf. Boyes, Roger. Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island. New York: Bloomsbury, 2009. p. 61.
28. ^ Kaufman, Amy S., "Our Future is our Past: Corporate Medievalism in Dystopian Fiction", in Corporate Medievalism II, ed. by Karl Fugelso, Studies in Medievalism, 22 (Cambridge: Brewer, 2013), pp. 11–19.
29. ^ Erman, Eva; Möller, Niklas (August 2013), "What's Wrong with Politics in the Duniverse?", in Nicholas, Jeffery (ed.), Dune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of the Mentat, Popular Culture and Philosophy Series, vol. 56, Open Court, p. 66, ISBN 978-0812697278
30. ^ Schwab, Klaus (2020), COVID-19: The Great Reset, ISBN Agentur Schweiz. ISBN 978-2940631124
31. ^ "Now is the time for a great reset". 3 June 2020.
32. ^ Schwab, Klaus (2017) The Fourth Industrial Revolution ISBN 978-0241300756
33. ^ Mercola, Joseph (2021), The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing The Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal, Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN 978-1645020882
34. ^ Breggin, Peter R. (2021), COVID-19 and the Global Predators: We Are the Prey, Lake Edge Press. ISBN 978-0982456064
35. ^ Kotkin, Joel (2021), The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class, Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1641770941

## External links

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* Mutation of Medieval Feudalism Into Modern Corporate Capitalism: The Rise of Neofeudalism in Corporate Governance
* Неофеодализм в истории и футурологии
* Capitalism Is Changing, but Not Into “Neofeudalism”. Jacobin. May 21, 2025.

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