David Harvey, distinguished professor of Anthropology and Geography at City University New York, presents an incisive and highly readable critique of the doctrine of political economy known as Neoliberalism. Whether or not you agree with his arguments, the book is a high quality piece of scholarship that is immensely well researched. Harvey provides in depth citations to check his sources and evaluate the implications he presents of the supporting material.
As the book deals with a subject fundamental to our material well being in analyzing the impact of political-economy, its importance cannot be overstated – at the least this work should provide a starting point for those uninitiated to join the debate and for those critical of social conditions and the reasons given for these conditions by elites, to further their theoretical understanding and potential for action.
In considering the practical implications of the book, the hope is that a critical engagement and reading of the media and political policies as elements of neoliberal discourse should assist citizens to form broad oppositional movements geared to improving social conditions.
Harvey presents not only an outline of neoliberalism as an economic theory, but as having a clearly identifiable moral argument. It is this moral argument and premise underpinning the validity of neoliberalism that needs to be disputed.
The moral premise that individual effort and merit determines economic outcomes is highly attractive, but largely false as structural factors are more relevant to improving social mobility. This position is crucial in supporting neoliberal policy decisions as elites can point to the sanctity of an individual’s freedom in engaging deregulation and privatization. Under this ideology, free enterprise and entrepreneurialism form the cornerstone of democratic freedom.
A result of this is to justify increased inequality as a natural conclusion to fair economic competition, which is in fact quite unfair as elites are free to insulate themselves from competition. This is made apparent through the persistent bailouts of institutions suffering losses due to financial speculation and the process of capital accumulation that continues with the socialization of losses, while profits are privatized. As Harvey argues convincingly, neoliberalism in practice diverges significantly from theory and betrays its own moral justification, while also failing to deliver economic security for citizens.
Neoliberalism has become a singular program of capital accumulation for the elites with little concern to grow the economy, reduce social risk or improve conditions for the general population. Evidence supporting this view illustrates a pattern of fiscal risks, low growth and more troubling, authoritarian and military responses to social unrest, which can be examined both domestically in the U.S. (through incarceration) and abroad in terms of foreign policy influencing NGO’s such as the IMF and World Bank to support interventions favorable to American investment banks and corporations eager to increase foreign direct investment.
Harvey also presents a global, comparative analysis of the state of neoliberal political economy that illustrates how the application of these policies has varied accordingly to unique domestic factors, such as the degree of embedded liberalism and the strength of labor. He includes North America, Europe and China, with a focus on Sweden and China as particularly interesting due to a modified implementation of neoliberal policy. In China this was owed to integrating market-based reform with the Communist command economy and in the case of Sweden, existing and strong support for labor-oriented policy dampened the ability for neoliberal reforms to achieve their aims.
Evaluating neoliberalism requires considering whether as a system of political economy, it has achieved its aims. Arguably, economic policies of deregulation and privatization have lead to economic growth, yet comparatively, economies avoiding neoliberalism have produced better growth rates over the long term. So as an engine of growth, the theory fails to deliver. Moreover, the growth engendered by neoliberalism has been characterized by economic instability and financial volatility, which is likely due to a reduced role for government regulation and a lack of countercyclical demand side interventions.
Where government intervention does occur, it often comes in the form of bailouts that socialize the losses of speculation and reckless corporate practices, while leaving the offending elites free to abscond with the profits. In practice, neoliberal theory and the regulatory capture defining its political control, supports arguably criminal financial practices and negligent economic management at the level of the firm and state.
Trickle down supply side arguments have failed to improve economic conditions and social safety nets have been cut in order to protect the increasingly unstable fiscal position of countries pursuing neoliberal policies. Countries following a social market based approach have faired much better in terms of social indicators and this is the major take away from Harvey’s argument – if we wish to improve conditions, neoliberal policies must be resisted. This argument extends to both social conditions and economic, and fiscal stability.
The socialization of private losses through bailouts and corporate subsidies present a defining element of the desperation of policy makers to preserve an illusion of normalcy while inequality and debt due to poor economic management increase. A more dangerous factor emerges through the neoconservative answer to social unrest due to poor economic management, which is to criminalize the conditions of poverty. The U.S. has risen to the forefront of the incarceration enterprise with a world leading number of inmates per capita (2013). Elites can be regarded as increasingly dangerous due to their failure to change course and double down on disastrous policies with authoritarian responses.
Make no mistake, the situation is dire and Harvey concludes on a very cautiously optimistic tone by quoting President Roosevelt, who implicated excessive market freedoms in causing the Great Depression. Such a contention in the Bush or Obama era political environment would be seen as exceedingly socialist, and save for left egalitarians like Senator Bernie Sanders, this position is infrequently articulated or met with derision. Although it is gaining traction in popular support and the 2016 Democratic primary is telling both in terms of population level support for working class politics, but also the desperation of neoliberal establishment figures such as Hilary Clinton and her supporters to maintain the status quo and reject a labor oriented politics.
This book overwhelmingly achieves its objectives in laying bare the dangerous turn neoliberal politics has taken due to its failures, as it lurches from one financial crisis to the next, its key actors seem more willing to court authoritarian policy responses to shore up the weakening legitimacy of their claim to provide the best, evidence based economic policy. Intellectual and financial elites including Paul Krugman and George Soros have changed their position on neoliberalism, moving from cheerleaders to sounding the alarm on the worsening social, economic and fiscal conditions resulting from the neoliberal experiment.
In a time defined by divisive identity politics citizens seem disconnected from the most meaningful and uniting basis for a common politics of the working class. Harvey presents a call to action to improve economic conditions for all citizens that is compellingly well researched. I suggest you read this book and see where you stand; you may find yourself convinced of the need for a broad based oppositional movement to oppose the elite’s profligacy and economic mismanagement that is neoliberalism.
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