The Neoliberal Revolution

"The sequence of events initiated by neoliberalism is not unprecedented. In the late nineteenth century, when economic conditions were similar to those of the 1970s, a structural crisis led to a financial hegemony, culminating in the speculative boom of the late 1920s."--BOOK JACKET.

Very few studies have ventured to explore the shift in economic ideas that were such a critical factor in shaping and understanding the East European transition process. Paul Dragos Aligica and Anthony J. Evans have seized upon the potential that this crucial case has to illuminate the larger phenomenon of diffusion and adoption of economic ideas. Two different but related research agendas are developed: the study of the spread of neoliberalism as seen from the perspective of Eastern European post-communist evolutions and the study of Eastern European transition as seen from an ideas-centered perspective. Combining a distinctive synthesis of the existing data about the spread of neoliberal economic ideas in Central and Eastern Europe with an analysis of the processes at work, the authors challenge a series of misunderstandings and myths about the spread of neoliberal economic ideas. The disputed topics include: the myth of an Eastern European rush to embrace the theories and ideas that may be considered the mark of market fundamentalism ; the notion that a harsh neoliberal dogmatism was somehow imposed on the region from outside; the idea that the standardization and regimentation of economic thinking was a result of the spread of the Western way of doing economics; and the belief that the Eastern Europeans passively embraced this uniformity and standardization due to pressure from the Westerners. This unusual synthesis will appeal to scholars in economics, political science, communist/post-communist studies and new institutionalism, as well as policymakers.

The book examines the rise of the amalgam of economic and political ideas we know as neo-liberalism and how these became the defining orthodoxy of our times. It investigates the inexorable global spread of market economies and how neo-liberal agendas are accommodated or hijacked in collisions with authoritarian states and populist oligarchies.

This ambitious volume examines revolutionary situations during a non-revolutionary historical conjuncture--the neoliberal era. The last three decades have seen an increase in the number of political upheavals that challenge existing power structures, many of them taking the form of urban revolts. This book compellingly explores a series of such upheavals--in Eastern Europe, South Africa, Indonesia, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, sub-Saharan Africa (including Congo, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso) and Egypt. Each chapter studies the ways in which protest movements developed into insurgent challenges to state power, and the strategies that regimes have deployed to contain and repress revolt. In addition to empirical chapters, the book engages in theorization of revolution, dealing with questions such as the patterning of revolution in contemporary history, the relationship between class struggle and social movements, and the prospects of socialist revolution in the twenty-first century.

YorkshiremanAustin Mitchell lived in New Zealand for eight years while lecturing onpolitical science. In 1972 he wrote his best-selling commentary on the NewZealand way of life, The Half-Gallon Quarter-Acre Pavlova Paradise. Nowhe returns to the fray with Revenge of the Rich, an outspoken opinionpiece on the impact of neo-liberalism on society in Britain and New Zealand,based on his popular lectures as a visiting fellow at the University ofCanterbury in 2016. In hisdown-to-earth and lively style, Mitchell, who experienced politics first-handas a long-serving Labour MP for Grimsby, denounces the economic policy of thelast three decades as 'a long march down Dead-End Street' -- a neo-liberalexperiment that has benefitted the rich and eroded the 'good society' with itswelfare state and governments' commitment to the betterment of the people. He chartsthe development of a neo-liberal creed, market-driven and with governmentsdevoted to efficiency, cost-cutting, and austerity at the people's expense, anddraws parallels between Thatcherism in the United Kingdom, Rogernomics in NewZealand, and all that came after them. Mitchell observes how neo-liberalism hasfailed to deliver on its promises, including that of the 'trickle-down' effect,resulting in much greater inequality in both countries. Ultimately, he findsuseful lessons in its failure and possible pointers to a fairer society forall.

This is a book for the age of resistance, for the occupiers of the squares, for the generation of Occupy Wall Street. The premier radical political philosopher of our time offers a devastating critique of the way neoliberalism has hollowed out democracy.

Neoliberalism - the doctrine that market exchange is an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action - has become dominant in both thought and practice throughout much of the world since 1970 or so. Its spread has depended upon a reconstitution of state powers such that privatization, finance, and market processes are emphasized. State interventions in the economy are minimized, while the obligations of the state to provide for the welfare of its citizens are diminished. David Harvey, author of 'The New Imperialism' and 'The Condition of Postmodernity', here tells the political-economic story of where neoliberalization came from and how it proliferated on the world stage. While Thatcher and Reagan are often cited as primary authors of this neoliberal turn, Harvey shows how a complex of forces, from Chile to China and from New York City to Mexico City, have also played their part. In addition he explores the continuities and contrasts between neoliberalism of the Clinton sort and the recent turn towards neoconservative imperialism of George W. Bush. Finally, through critical engagement with this history, Harvey constructs a framework not only for analyzing the political and economic dangers that now surround us, but also for assessing the prospects for the more socially just alternatives being advocated by many oppositional movements.

In its heyday in the late 1990s, neoliberalism emerged as the world's dominant economic paradigm. But the global financial crisis of 2008-9 fundamentally shocked a globalized economy built on neoliberal assumptions. This VSI examines the origins, core claims, and considerable variations of neoliberalism with examples from around the world.