Neoliberalism : Political And Economic Theory Of Capitalism And Liberalism

Neoliberalism is a direct descendent of 19th century liberalism and was explicitly intended to re-create ‘laissez-faire’ conditions for markets in the 20th century (Hayter and Barnes 200). In

Neoliberalism refers to a political movement that espouses economic liberalism as a means of promoting economic development and securing political liberty.

In almost any known economic system, there are going to be imbalances of power. Someone, or a group of people, is eventually going to be more well off than another. An early attempt to fix these imbalances was to implement a laissez faire type system, a hands-off approach with very little regulation on the market. This eventually backfired as the imbalances between the rich and the poor only became even more extreme since, with little regulation, the rich companies were able to take advantage of the poor by providing them low working wages and kept most of the profits to themselves. Not too long afterwards, antitrust laws and commission regulation was implemented in some systems in order to provide equal, yet aggressive, competition. However, even though it succeeds in its goal to provide equal, yet aggressive, competition, it does not necessarily protect the better

Over the last four decades Neoliberal policies have generated issues such as social inequalities, discrimination, and an increase in poverty, that have affected the lives of many individuals on a global scale. These repercussions were the result of a Neoliberal agenda that aimed to maintain economic growth with social reproduction. After World War II, a welfare state was established which contributed to the growth of the GDP in the United States until the economic recession in the 1970’s. In response to the economic crisis in the 20th century, Neoliberal elites aimed to stimulate economic growth by limiting welfare and lowering labor costs which increased poverty, precipitated discrimination towards people of color, and created an unfair justice

Neoliberalism according to Ritzer is the, “Liberal commitment to individual liberty, a belief in the free market, and opposition to state intervention” (37). Neoliberalism emerged in the 1930s and it is based on the ideas of classical economics (Ritzer, 37). Neoliberalism is harmful to human rights and does not improve the lives of others. On the universal declaration of human rights we can see thirty rights that humans are all entitled to (“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”). Human rights under articles twenty-two, twenty-three, and twenty-five are all rights that neoliberalism violates.

Neo-liberalism is the economic belief that free market forces achieved by minimising government limitations on business provide the lone route towards economic growth shifting control from the public sector into the

However, around the 1970’s, people began to become hostile about this government intervention and started to believe there should be a free market to minimalize government involvement (lecture). Neoliberalism marks a retreat from the liberal social democracy with focus on free trade, opposition to government regulation, refusal of responsibility for social welfare, and resource privatization (Alison Jaggar). The opposition of government regulation focuses specifically on aspects such as production of wages, working conditions, and environmental protections, while also pressing governments to abandon social welfare responsibilities (Alison Jaggar). Neoliberalism supports capitalism and the free flow of goods, resources, and people, while actively seeking to control that flow (Alison Jaggar). Neoliberalism takes advantage of inequalities between countries by increasing the gap between developing and developed nations

promoted a half way approach to liberal ideas while they incorporated parts of a social

Neo-liberalism is associated with economic liberalism whose campaign support provides economic liberations, free trade and open markets, privatization, deregulation and promoting the role of private institutions present in new society. Classic liberalism criticizes the neo-liberalism objective of introducing liberalization to bring about gradual increase of wealth and freedom among nations, however, classic liberalism explains that instead of realization of wealth and freedom, liberalization resulted to constant fight proposals that threatened the progress of achieving wealth and freedom among nations. Neo-liberalism aimed to prevent and control monopoly situations such that if there are no bodies

Classical liberalism is an ideology that is usually unfavorable to using authority of the state other than ensuring rights and liberties. Government and individuals agree to protect people’s rights and allow for maximum freedom. Laissez-faire focuses on the liberty of an individual and the lack of social equality. Laissez-faire capitalism is where people are unrestricted to invest in what the prices of services will be, what the produce will sell at. In a modern welfare-state capitalism has influenced our understanding of the terms of the social contract because they practice a system of mixed capitalist that have rules by the government for businesses and marketing.

Economics is based on several theories, whether it is neoliberalism or the welfare state. Neoliberalism and the welfare state are opposite beliefs that have been introduced to help the United States economy. Neoliberalism has a key goal of improving the well-being of society while encouraging a ‘free market’ economy. Similar to neoliberalism, the welfare state is a concept in which the state is supposed to protect and promote the well-being of society, socially and economically. A welfare state can occur in a neoliberal state. When the welfare state is used, then neoliberals believe an abuse of power is occurring. While the welfare state can occur in a neoliberal state, the role of the government should be limited to allow for a free market.

(B. Kamiński 225). However, the package was met with a flurry of criticism from prominent economists and journalists. Echoing the key principles of neoliberalism, the economist Tomasz Jeziorański argued that the principal weakness of the package consisted in granting the full responsibility for economic performance to the central administration. The free enterprise characterized by responsibility and autonomy, he insisted, was incompatible with economic coercion by the state (B. Kamiński 226). As a consequence of protests of similar nature, the government eventually withdrew the package in question from further consideration.

Liberalism is another concept that has significant arguments regarding international relations. Liberal economics have determined the shape of the monetary system and support the concept of open markets, where individuals have the freedom to engage in commerce. Unlike realists, liberals oppose mercantilism and the zero-sum game much like the countries in NAFTA. This disagreement is the cause of many disagreements during the NAFTA negotiations. If countries are able to work together and trust one another to attain power, conflict is less likely to occur and overall economic wealth for countries can be gained. Through free trade, the goal is to have a decreased amount of wasted resources on inefficient production because the more individuals that engage in this collective use of resources the more likely the system would become efficient and acquire heightened economic gains such as wealth. ) Finally, there is the liberal institutionalism perspective which approves of regimes and international organizations. Utilizing these rules through rapid growth of regimes, regulate economic affairs, determine which activities are allowed and disallowed, and assure that

Neo-liberalism is a political ideology that suggests that ‘human well-being can be advanced by the maximisation of entrepreneurial freedom, characterised by private property rights, individual liberty, free markets and free trade’ (Geografiskar, A 2006). In today’s modern society neo-liberalism is widespread around the globe with various stakeholders offering conflicting views. Some advocates, namely the capitalistic portion of society argue that a liberal market is

Another concept which is introduced is economic liberalism. It is defined as that the states do not intervene in the matters related to economy rather on the individuals. Economic liberalism and neoliberalism are separate entities from liberalism. In oxford English dictionary describes economic liberalism as,