Economic constitutionalism and social inclusion: Transforming liberalism

Abstract

At the beginning of the twenty-first century the neo liberal market model1 that so dominated economic and social policy making during the later decades of the last century is increasingly being called into question. This arises not only from the anti-globalization movements (such as the World Social Forum), but also from the populist politics of elected governments in some of the newly industrializing countries. For example, in Latin America, the election of leaders such as Lula Da Silva of the Brazilian Workers Party, Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, has, it seems, bucked some of the main tenets of the ‘Washington Consensus’. In East Asia, the election of Thaksin Shinawatra was on a platform that championed a form of Thai nationalism against the austerity policies advocated by the IMF. This would suggest that even on the home turf of the Washington Consensus — the ‘miracle’ economies of East Asia — the neo liberal economic policies that so dominated the 1990s are facing mounting pressures. These trends have been compounded by the development of a raft of policies and programmes that focus on issues such as poverty reduction and social safety nets2 promoted by international financial institutions (IFI), and, especially, the World Bank. These developments would seem to document clearly a growing concern with, and awareness of, the social dimensions of economic development that were absent in the era of the hard-edged neo liberalism of the Washington Consensus.