Hartmut Rosa:

[A]stonishingly, political actors feel (or at least present themselves as being) utterly powerless. From Margaret “There Is No Alternative” Thatcher to Gerhard “Basta!” Schröder, the belief has set in among political leaders that the basic parameters of political action are defined by markets, processes of globalization, and the logic of competition. They themselves have no control over these processes; there is no alternative. One can only act “wrongly,” fall behind in global competition, and thus squander one’s opportunities for future control. […]

In the end modernity’s program of making the world controllable threatens to produce a new, radical form of uncontrollability, one that is categorically different from and worse than the original, because we are incapable of experiencing self-efficacy or of establishing a responsive relationship of adaptive transformation when confronted with it.