Neoliberal nature and the nature of neoliberalism

Abstract

1. Neoliberalism and the environmentNeoliberalism is the most powerful ideological andpolitical project in global governance to arise in thewake of Keynesianism, a status conveyed by trium-phalist phrases such as ‘‘the Washington consensus’’ andthe ‘‘end of history’’ (Laclau and Mouffe, 1985; Jessop,1994; Harvey, 2000; Peck, 2001). Yet the neoliberalproject is not hegemonic: it has been roundly criticizedand attacked, and it has faltered in a number of respects.In fact, the most nakedly extreme forms of neoliberalstate rollbacks and market triumphalism may well bepast, beaten back in places by virulent resistance (asurprise to those who believed history was at an end);undermined by the spectacular failures of neoliberalreforms judged even by the standards of neoliberalchampions (as in Argentina, for example); and replacedby ‘‘kinder, gentler,’’ Third Way variants (Peck andTickell, 2002).Neoliberalism’s adventures and misadventures areincreasingly well-chronicled,