Recuperating Democratic Spaces in an Age of Militarisation and a ‘New Fascism’

Abstract

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of Henry Giroux's contribution over the years to critical thinking in education and beyond. It focuses primarily on Giroux's recent works concerning the changing nature of the State (from the social to the carceral and neoliberal state), the war against youth and children, the culture of militarisation, torture, the emergence of a ‘new fascism’, the corporatisation of schools and higher education and the need for intellectuals to extend their work beyond the confines of academia to engage as public intellectuals, as well as the roles of critical pedagogy and cultural studies in this regard. The article draws on a range of writings, including both academic and more ‘public’ writings from such outlets as Truthout and Counterpunch. While much of what is written presents a bleak picture of the current international socio-economic scenario, Giroux's work is infused with a sense of hope and agency. It is inspired by a view of a world not as it is now but as it can and should be.