Of course, it would be disingenuous to say there are no guiding forces behind what people like to call neoliberalism. Since there is no definitive definition of neoliberalism, both he and Mr Mason are dancing on the head of an imaginary pin. The Independent's Ben Chu wrote a fine article pointing out how much the EU version of capitalism differs from its Anglo-American counterparts but he is fighting a losing battle. Last week, former journalist Paul Mason stretched the definition to breaking point, saying European social democrats, who are far fonder of a big state than anyone in the Anglosphere, were neoliberals. Since there is no root ideology, neoliberalism can mean whatever you want it to mean. Image: Neoliberalism is oddly difficult to pin downįor all that these people say they are playing the same sport, they are running around on entirely different pitches with differently shaped balls. For others, it meant removing the state entirely and consigning the entire economy to market forces. Some writers went back to the definitions laid down by the German Freiberg School (which first coined it), meaning a way of running your economy which encouraged competition but also fostered an active role for the state. Those who did came up with a ragbag of varying definitions. It found that three quarters of them didn't even bother to define what the word actually meant. But it turns out what it means is often in the eye of the beholder.Ī few years ago a study analysed 148 articles published in top journals which used the word. My own personal impression of what people mean by neoliberalism was where the market is preferred over government when it comes to running your economy, where economic norms trump social preferences - that countries should be deregulated, tariffs reduced, their key companies privatised, state spending kept to an absolute minimum. Moreover, even those who bandy the term around have trouble agreeing on what it means. In other words, it is not an ideology but an insult. For one thing, it is a word that tends to be used almost exclusively by those who are criticising it - not by its advocates, such as they are (in stark contrast to almost every other ideology, nearly no-one self-describes as a neoliberal). They are playing on the same football pitch.īut, despite the fact that neoliberalism is frequently referred to as an ideology, it is oddly difficult to pin down. Advocates and detractors of Marxism might have vastly different opinions about the wisdom of communism but they can usually agree, at least in broad terms, what they're arguing about. Most people understand what Marxism, democracy or fascism are. They are big abstract nouns with pretty clear definitions. Ideologies are systems of ideas and beliefs which can be turned into politics. Let's start with Jeremy Corbyn's description of it as an ideology. Many commentators see neoliberalism as the defining ideology of our age they reckon it's the root cause of all sorts of challenges, such as populism, inequality and boom and bust economics.
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