Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie

Whatever the fate of the revolts of last year -- and they are anything but finished -- 2011 will go down as a turning point in political history and geography.  There were surely many precedents:  economic crises that sparked from the heart of capitalism, the anti -austerity revolts that resulted, the antiglobalization movement a decade ago, the Zapatista revolt even earlier.  Yet the confluence of a still-unfolding Arab Spring, Chilean and continuing European anti-austerity revolts, Chinese strikes and the global Occupy movement,  en masse made 2011 a year of transition. Neoliberalism is dominant but dead.