Decades Of Neoliberal Policies Research Articles

The Many Republics of Hunger

This article is the Sixth Sam Moyo Memorial Lecture delivered by Professor Utsa Patnaik during the SMAIAS/ASN Summer School on January 16, 2023, in Harare. Professor Patnaik argues that the discourse in development economics is so completely dominated by fallacious ideas emanating from the conservative economics departments of universities in advanced industrial countries, and economists in the Global South tend to be so completely hegemonized by these fallacious ideas that they pay little or no attention to long-term trends in their own economies that impact adversely the welfare of the poorest of their own populations. A most important long-term trend—to be precise, the trend over the last four decades of neoliberal policies—has been the declining per capita consumption of food grains in countries of the Global South, associated with their increasing opening up to free trade under the incessant pressure of industrial nations.

“Memory Makes Us Brave”: Hauntological Echoes of the Past in the Music of Chile’s 2019 Social Upheaval

Abstract: The 2019 social upheaval in Chile began with students jumping turn-stiles in protest over a modest increase in the metro fare, but it quickly expanded into a widespread denunciation of nearly every facet of the neo-liberal economic system installed under the 1973–1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. “It’s not the thirty pesos,” protesters claimed, “it’s the thirty years,” referring to the three decades of neoliberal policies after the return to democracy in 1990. In the days and weeks after the protests began, a soundtrack emerged of both original music and songs repurposed from Chile’s past. Even the new songs created in the wake of the 2019 protests also frequently reference, sample, or allude to Chile’s musical icons of the Chilean New Song era of the 1960s and early 1970s or to dictatorship era music. Both the protests and their music are therefore rooted in a hauntological past. Jacques Derrida coined the term “hauntology” in Spectres of Marx (2006), where he examines the ways in which the spirit of Marxism, like all ghosts which have yet to be laid to rest, would return, repeatedly, disrupting the present and continuing to remind us of another possible future.” In Ghosts of My Life , British cultural theorist Mark Fisher applies Derrida’s concept of hauntology to English language cultural production, arguing that 21st-century cultural products reflect a “slow cancellation of the future.” “It doesn’t feel like the future,” Fisher writes; instead, “we remain trapped in the 20th century.” This article examines how the hauntological songs of the 2019 social upheaval seek to inspire and support an oppositional consciousness against the neoliberal system and how the resilience of that same system maintains Chile’s musical ghosts in a perpetual limbo .

“This is our land!”: Owning the Nation in Luc Belvaux’s Chez Nous (2017)

Far-Right, white nationalist movements are now threatening liberal democracies across the West in ways not seen since the interwar years, turbulent times that set the stage for catastrophic violence that razed the European continent during World War II. In his recent film Chez Nous (2017), Luc Belvaux takes a fictional look at the inner workings of a far-right party striving to shed its identity as a fringe movement long steeped in racism, xenophobia, and neo-fascist hate-mongering. The rebranding project mobilizes the talents of media-savvy party operatives skilled in stoking the fears and resentments smouldering in communities blighted by decades of economic decline. Set in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Chez Nous shows that the populist rhetoric of the contemporary far right cloaks its authoritarian ambitions and the vested interests it serves. Those interests are not, viewers see, those of the populations whose fury is being stirred and turned against democratic societies and governance, which themselves have been seriously weakened by decades of neoliberal policies and economic practices that have left fractured communities and decimated futures in their wake.

Society Matters in Surviving COVID-19

COVID-19 has been ravaging the world, and it becomes clear that the damage caused by it varies from country to country. Two of the most advanced countries, the US and the UK, are suffering very severely (death tolls are 121,979 US and 43,165 UK, as of 25 June 2020) . While their lack of effective political leaders and effective administrations have been mentioned elsewhere, the more striking similarity between the two revealed by COVID-19 seems to be that these two top neoliberal societies are torn by multiple divisions. Both societies are divided and as Margaret Thatcher said, “there is no such thing as society” by now. Three decades of neoliberal policies in those countries have succeeded in tearing their societies apart. And her remedy is “people must look after themselves first” because “no government can do anything except through people”. This short commentary article discusses that we need our society back again. Simply because this neoliberal and torn-apart society with highly atomized individuals and little social compassion is ideally suited to form a hotbed of COVID-19, at a time when we must coordinate our actions and commit to sacrifices together, such as social distancing and reducing our interactions. Social capital, which involves trustworthiness, norms of reciprocity and networks is in need.

In Search of Europe’s Phantom Public. “Public-ness” and the European Union

The notion of is making an unexpected yet impressive comeback. After decades of neo-liberal policies where State failures and irrationalities were systematically pointed out and the superiority of private management consistently affirmed, authority and intervention again appear as the inescapable solution to the most daunting issues of our times, particularly at the EU level. As the environmental emergency is making its way through our minds and the challenge raised by the accumulation of private authority in the hands of a limited number of multinational corporations becomes clearer every day, many call for stronger regulations-in areas of data privacy, tax fraud, environment, health standards, and others-and a staunch relaunch of investments, evidenced by the many versions of the Green New Deal. With the dys-topia of a fully private vision of the future diffusing in popular culture series and novels, notions of the common and the public are making a striking return in our democratic conversation. Interestingly, these calls for the rearmament of Europe's capacity parallel our increasing sensitivity to the receding publicness of EU decision-making under the pressure of intense lobbying and revolving door mechanisms. Documentaries and journalist investigations have diffused a critical vision of an EU deemed incapable of evading the pressure of business stakeholders while providing a solely marginal place to the interests of citizens. Whatever one thinks of the diagnosis , they are proof of a growing awareness, particularly among younger generations, that the dividing line between the and the private is not any social or professional border, and that its robustness conditions political sovereignty, equality, citizenship, and ultimately, democracy itself. And yet, such a comeback finds us unprepared. The lexicon that we continue to use routinely is still the same as thirty years ago, as if the realities that this compass was supposed to capture-public-sphere, good or goods, interest, utilities, service public, and others-had not been profoundly turned around by three decades of neoliberal policies. Short of an overall reassessment of both the map and the territory of the public, we run the risk of using it as an empty signifier, or even a mere buzzword. Strikingly, pseudo-notions of the interest do, in fact, blossom today, such as corporate social responsibility, pro bono publico, philanthropy, and more.

Crisis económica, decrecimiento y rituales de interacción: Un camino a la sostenibilidad

The economic crisis that began in 2008 started as a classic over-accumulation crisis brought about by several decades of neoliberal policies. Nonetheless, its triggering cause was a high rise of hydrocarbons and raw materials due to an unequal and unfair development that exceeded the limits of the Earth's product relative to demand at that time. De-growth Theory asserts that global economy surpasses the planet's carrying capacity and moves towards collapse. In order to avoid it, This theory proposes to increase activities related to human development which demand few materials and energy, to balance entitlement to production means according to criteria of technical adequacy, efficiency, sustainability, resilience, and social justice, and decrease structures of indefinite capital accumulation and activities related to mass consumption. Only that consumption seems addictive. Interaction Ritual Theory suggests that redesigning current rituals in order to increase their emotional and existential density and adequacy, and at the same time to redirect them towards sustainability can help to foster the transition to a sustainable society

The weakest link? Unions, freedom of association and ethical codes: A case study from a factory setting in Sri Lanka

Academic debates on union politics in the Global South have tended to focus on effective union and solidarity campaigns. Labour struggles, however, do not always yield beneficial outcomes for workers. Three decades of neo-liberal policies in Sri Lanka suggests complexities that labour rights advocates would potentially prefer to shy away from. Efforts to re-politicize union rights of labour in an era of economic liberalization require us to sharpen our gaze on these ruptures too. Using workplace ethnography in Sri Lanka, this article details the interactions of management and labour during a struggle over union formation. It suggests that paying detailed attention to the political economy of labour highlights a complex situation in which fostering unionization, despite its importance for the collective will of labour, may require hard work.

Working-class women revolt: gendered political economy in Morocco

The discourse centring on reforms in Morocco has been largely shaped by the sources of power, namely the palace and its allies. Since Mohammed VI's accession to the throne, women's rights have consistently been framed within this neoliberal discourse. Pointing to various measures, such as the personal status code law reforms, the dominant narrative describes Morocco as a ‘progressive’ country with regard to the treatment of women. Additionally, following decades of neoliberal policies initiated under King Hassan II, the liberalisation of both the political and economic system has led to a series of consequences for the Moroccan working class, especially women. Within the past two years, in light of the demands for democratic reforms, the plight of working-class women has gained greater attention, especially following the self-immolation of single mother Fadoua Laroui and the suicide of Amina Filali, a young rape victim forced into a marriage with her rapist. Looking back on years of neoliberal economic policies as well as the political liberalisation measures King Mohammed VI instituted, working-class women in Morocco remain marginalised. The disenfranchisement of working-class women has grown even more evident following their active participation in the February 20 Movement, which was Morocco's version of the uprisings in the region. Contextualising the impact of neoliberal economic policies and measures of political liberalisation on class- and gender-based inequalities, this paper will evaluate how working-class women in Morocco remain marginalised.

Microfinance et nouvelles gauches en Amérique latine : un agenda pour la recherche-action

L’article rend compte des debats autour de la critique portee par les nouvelles gauches latino-americaines sur les secteurs de la microfinance, qui ont connu un essor remarquable durant les decennies anterieures de politiques neoliberales. Il restitue les echanges qui ont eu lieu lors d’une conference internationale, tenue a Anvers en novembre 2012, qui a rassemble une cinquantaine de participants et leur a permis de partager des experiences nationales differentes ainsi que des analyses et des visions divergentes. L’enjeu de la conference etait d’etablir un dialogue entre les chercheurs et les praticiens du secteur de la microfinance et les divers « representants » des gauches latino-americaines. La conference, tout comme l’article, traite des travaux examinant les strategies d’inclusion financiere portees par ces mouvements afin de determiner quelles sont les perspectives de la microfinance dans ce nouveau contexte politique. En conclusion, un ensemble de questions issues des debats esquisse les axes d’un futur programme de recherche sur la question.