Neoliberalism’s friends, foes and fellow travellers: What can radical feminist and disability perspectives bring to the policy mobilities approach?

Abstract

How and why neoliberal policies spread across political jurisdictions is a fundamental question for economic geographers and critical policy scholars. Many accounts inspired by the policy mobility approach point to neoliberalism as having a conditioning effect on the ease and speed with which policies transverse the globe. Yet the role that social movements and transnational advocacy networks play in shaping and at times facilitating neoliberal policy diffusion has been under-examined. In this article, I bring a new perspective to the policy mobilities literature, by incorporating insights from radical feminist and critical disability theorising. Drawing on the work of Nancy Fraser, I argue that in their haste to scrutinise and theorise neoliberalism as a project of the Right, policy mobility scholars have neglected the mobilising role of the transnational left. Elements of the Left have leant critical support to market-based models of state restructuring, out of concern for minority rights and the welfare state’s denial of individual agency and choice. To illustrate my argument, I use a case study of the disability movement and the policy model of individualised funding, which is driving the current trend towards greater marketisation in the provision of disability services.