The relationship between neoliberal ideology and state practice: corporate power in the Australian mining industry

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between neoliberal ideology and ‘actually existing neoliberalism’. Critical scholarship on neoliberalism identifies significant discrepancies between neoliberal ideology and neoliberal state practice in advanced economies, but struggles to account for the exact relationship between ideology and practice. Through a critical reading of neoliberal thinker Milton Friedman, I propose two hypotheses. Firstly, I argue that access to power resources determine which social actors are able to successfully resist neoliberal reform, and therefore that attention to power relations can account for the variegated, uneven development of neoliberalism. Secondly, I suggest neoliberal reforms limiting the role of government have allowed corporate actors to accrue unprecedented economic and political power, which is leveraged by corporations to create increasingly pro-corporate, but often anti-neoliberal, forms of economic regulation. I test my hypotheses by examining the regulation of the mining industry in Australia from 2009 to 2019, finding strong support for both claims.