Neoliberal Economic Paradigm Research Articles

Social Context and Violence in Adolescence: An Ethopsychoanalytic Perspective

ABSTRACT This article is an attempt to understand youth violence considering its alarming increase. This violence arises from the confluence of the helplessness of children of vulnerable single mothers with an environment that is far removed from the one in which we evolved 2 million years ago, inscribed in our ethogram. This unfortunate confluence generates violence that increases through “violent imagination” in what is experienced as an “unlawful world.” The loss of an expectable environment relates to Winnicott’s understanding of antisocial behavior and antisocial personality now embedded in the neo-liberal economic paradigm that has predominated in recent decades. Finally, I explore the function of the moral third, embedded in the social fabric, as a guarantor of social and cultural environmental provision and when this is lacking, it is necessary repair to deal with youth violence.

A Critical Juncture: Russia, Ukraine and the Global South

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine constitutes a critical juncture for the trajectory of the liberal-international order. It has undermined the US-led order by widening geopolitical rifts between the West and the Global South, increasing pressure on liberal democracy on a global scale and weakening the neo-liberal economic paradigm that has anchored the economic order since the 1980s.

Propaganda aspects of cultural liberalization in the conflict between the Western and Communist systems

The author examines the processes of transformation of Western culture during the conflict between the West and the East (1949-1989); the determinism of these changes and neoliberal economic transformations that began in 1970s. The subject of the research is the technology of using cultural phenomena and scientific research in order to promote the ideology of globalism. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze the genesis and development of the cultural transformation of Western society, the connection with the neoliberal economic paradigm of the Chicago School of Economics and the transition of power in Western countries to a new generation of globalist politicians. The material under study is reports of the Trilateral Commission, the Club of Rome, the IMF, Senate commissions, and the laws. The analysis of factual material is carried out by descriptive, analytical historical, systematic, comparative methods using abstracts and quotations from scientific literature. The scientific novelty of this article is to identify a new vision of the determinism of the stages of globalization: the cultural liberalization of Western society in the 1960s and 1970s, the neoliberal economic revolution of the 1970s and 2000s and the modern stage of globalization and the green agenda. The mechanisms of cultural liberalization, including three parallel youth revolutions in Anglo-Saxon countries, are shown, and the consequences of these revolutions, including the new values of the Western post-war generation, are analyzed. For the first time, the analysis of the report of the Club of Rome "The First Global Revolution" was carried out, new aspects of the ideological conflict between the communist and Western systems were identified and proposed for discussion. The data obtained are used to analyze the post-cold war: the unipolarity of the 1990s-2000s and the reverse process of regionalization that began in 2010s.

DOUBLE DEGREE TRANSNATIONAL CURRICULUM: University Internationalization Efforts in Malaysia with British Universities

Higher Education (HE) is central to advancing a nation's civilisation. In the modern context, HE has been polarised into a different practice discourse. This is the effect of globalisation which orients the neoliberal economic paradigm. This current resulted in a massive change in orientation (reform) of HE in Malaysia, which forced policymakers to internationalise HE. One of them is the transnational double degree program. British universities are considered the most suitable partners for this program due to several factors, such as the historical trajectory of British colonialism and imperialism towards Malaysia. This study uses a qualitative approach with ethnographic and documentary methods. Using the theory of "postcolonial and education" as an analysis of the findings has shown how the spectrum of colonial influence was on the education of the former colonies. Education is considered a strategy for seeding international educational networks, as in other regions. Another finding is that the originators or writers of this curriculum face a series of latent problems, such as differences in the academic and cultural climate between the two countries, different regulatory rules, and a shared credit system that still needs to be fully synchronised. This article creates a new finding that the internationalisation of HE through creating a transnational double degree curriculum is maximising HE marketing efforts amidst the current wave of globalisation competition.

If You Can Unmake It Here

This article starts from the premise that we are living amid a conjunctural moment, in which the neoliberal political economic and ideological paradigm has been destabilized. In moments of conjuncture, competing social groups vie—contingently and unevenly—to reconfigure a social order that is on the verge of rupture. Such acts of construction necessarily entail an engagement with—and a contestation over—the state; and they play out, in no small part, on the terrain of law. The article’s focus is on the ways in which recent political economic, organizing, and legal developments in New York City’s housing sphere illuminate a possible path forward. More specifically, the author makes the case that the successful campaign to strengthen New York’s system of rent regulation shows how law can be harnessed by grassroots, collective mobilizations to place property within the reach of democracy and—in so doing—to undertake the urgent task of unmaking the neoliberal order.

Neoliberal Culture Policy and Public Goods in Culture

The subject of this paper is the analysis of the position of culture as a public good in transition and post-transition social and economic context conditioned by neoliberal paradigm strengthening. Models and concepts of the culture policy which depict the relationship towards public good in culture will be presented as well. Individual culture policy models present opposite attitudes towards the principle that states that the culture is a public good. Special attention was addressed to the analysis of the transition from socialist culture policy to Neoliberal culture policy, i.e., analysis of the state’s changed relationship towards public goods in culture. In socialist Yugoslavia, the principle of culture as a public good was introduced by the socialist culture policy. The nordic model of cultural policy is based on the idea of cultural democracy which includes equal access to culture for all citizens. The neoliberal model of culture policy denies the principle of culture as public good due to its primary market orientation. It rests on the Neoliberal economic paradigm and commercialization of cultural goods. In the majority of transition and post-transition countries, the culture sector cannot exist based on market business. Culture cannot exist without government support but it does not mean that culture funding should rely only on budget. One of the primary tasks for state culture policy in post-transition societies is the protection and promotion of the public function of culture. State culture policy via legal, financial, value and organizational instruments must guarantee access to cultural goods to the greatest number of citizens possible.

Концепція конкурентного ринку електричної енергії України на постнеоліберальній основі

The formation of a competitive electric energy market is an international obligation of Ukraine and the national interest of its society. Currently, the European model of the electric energy market is being implemented in Ukraine, but in the EU the process of its revision is also underway to accelerate the «green» energy transition. The article expounds that the neoliberal economic paradigm that has dominated the world for the past 90 years needs to be revised to enhance interaction in the interests of society and the environment. The new economic paradigm is recognized as post-neoliberalism, which implies a strategic partnership between the State and business in the interests of society and the environment. The formation of a competitive electric energy market on a post-neoliberal basis is able to ensure the effectiveness of its functioning, prevent electric energy crises and promote sustainable adequate development. The theoretical basis for the formation of a competitive electric energy market should be the theory of the sectoral market, synergetics and the theory of economic mechanisms, the principles of which should constitute the basis of a competitive electric energy market. The electric energy market on a post-liberal basis is based on 3 functions: market effectiveness, electric energy safety, and adequacy of development – and also provides for the introduction of 2 direct economic mechanisms: the commodity market, the market of capacities (mechanisms of the market of ancillary services and throughput capacities are subsidiary to them). The article proposes a conceptual model of a competitive electric energy market on a post-neoliberal basis, highlighting the principles, tasks; defining the roles of participants; formulating a system of hypotheses and provisions for its implementation. The operating model for the introduction of a competitive electric energy market consists of four stages: its identification by key determinants, analysis of development tendencies, construction of an economic mechanism, selection of diagnostic tools.

Глобальная социально-экономическая парадигма в системе высшего образования и государственного управления

The subjects of the research are the transformation of the global socio-economic paradigm and its impact on the system of higher education and public administration. The purpose of the study is to identify the factors of transformation of the global socio-economic paradigm and to establish its influence on the formation of ideological attitudes of university students and the peculiarities of the state economic policy. The article examines the peculiarities of the process of changing socio-economic paradigms in economic theory and economic policy, explores the concept of socio-economic paradigm and the reasons for its transformation from the point of view of philosophy and methodology of science. The analysis of the causes, factors and driving forces of the transformation of socio-economic paradigms in the nineteenth century is conducted. The features of the transition from the Keynesian to the neoliberal economic paradigm are highlighted. As an alternative to the neoliberal socio-economic paradigm, the principles of the Beijing Consensus are investigated. The degree to which the economic and political conditions that have developed after the global financial and economic crisis open up opportunities for the transition from neoliberalism to a new socio-economic paradigm is assessed. It is concluded that the most important factor in the formation of socio-economic paradigms is economic education. After the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009, it became obvious that orthodox economic ideas and policies can no longer adequately solve the main problems facing Western economies. It is concluded that the neoliberal consensus remains dominant, albeit in a modified form, in public discourse and politics in most developed countries. There is no guarantee that there will not be a paradigm shift in economic thought and policy in the coming years.

Ecosociocentrism: The Earth First Paradigm for Environmental Sustainability and Sustainable Development

Environmental destruction and degradation that have occurred on planet Earth can be attributed largely to the current neo-liberal economic development paradigm, that considers Nature as simply the resource to be extracted and processed for human consumption and material growth. This paradigm does not consider the intrinsic values in Nature, including the values of life support-services, and goods of the natural ecosystem in the economic valuation system, and therefore, maintaining a healthy, productive, and resilient natural ecosystem becomes simply outside its analytical framework. The most important question that needs to be embedded into any development model is the question of values. If the assumptions of the current economic development model are not restructured and the ecological facts and values are not integrated into economic development model, humanity will inevitably face existential crisis on planet Earth. The scientific epistemology that embodies ecological principle of diversity, ecosystem resilience, interconnectedness, self-organizing complexity, and life sustaining environmental services provides the basis for building social and environmental sustainability. This necessitates the need for the integration of environmental ethics into development framework that can provide the guiding principle for human behavioral conduct. It is argued here that there is a need for a pragmatic environmental ethical paradigm that can integrate both the instrumental and intrinsic values in Nature and promote sustainable development that can lay the foundation for eco-civilization. Recognizing our fundamental interconnectedness with other life forms, self-organizing complexity of the living system and the interdependent nature of our existence, it behooves that development be pursued with a pragmatic environmental ethics that recognizes both the instrumental and intrinsic values in sociosphere (society) and ecosphere (nature). Ecosociocentrism, the proposed ethical framework, recognizes instrumental and intrinsic values in ecosphere and sociosphere. Ecosociocentrism envisages to integrate these values prevalent in ecosphere and sociosphere. Ecosociocentrism claims to provide a pragmatic environmental and development ethical framework for human behavioral conduct to live sustainably in good stewardship with Planet Earth, thus, paving the way to a new era of ecocivilization.

Voices from the Ground Neo liberal statecraft and KMSS’s resistance movements in Assam

Over the years, people’s resistance movements in Assam have protested state policies and actions on the control, appropriation and ownerships of natural resources. Such movements are marked by an active ideological orientation from the time of colonial annexation of this northeastern region to that of the formation of the post-colonial independent Indian state and yet still continues. Resistance against power of the state occurred within a recognized public arena, which is well goes with what present days resistance movements are doing against the coercive role of the state in Assam. Voices are erupted from the grounds that have a direct connection with the neoliberal state policy of neo-extraction of resources by marginalizing local communities who are said to be the traditional right holders over it. Illustrative to this, the resistance movement spearheaded by a peasant-based organization called Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS)in Assam at the grass root level not only mobilizes the voices which are usually unheard, but build a strong counter force against the state power. In its decade long existence, the organization is offering its resistance politics by launching a serious of movements to resist anti-farmer and anti-people policies pursued by the government in the post-liberalization phase and has emerged as a powerful platform for representing voices of the economically-excluded, who fall behind the curtain of the neo-liberal economic paradigm.

Inequality in the Time of Corona Virus

Inequality in the Time of Corona Virus

“Bungkalan” and the Manobo-Pulangihon tribe’s resistance to corporate land-grab in Bukidnon, Mindanao

The island of Mindanao, dubbed as the “Land of Promise” is home to more than half of natural and mineral resources in the country. It hosts the largest rubber, banana and pineapple plantations as well as huge mining explorations. These big agri-plantations and mining corporations encroach peasant communities and Indigenous Peoples or Lumads in Bukidnon, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Compostela Valley and Davao provinces. Around 500,000 hectares of land in the five regions of Mindanao are planted with crops primarily for export. Ethnographic data were collected during fieldwork in the province of Bukidnon from May to October 2017. Raw data were obtained through formal and informal interviews, direct observation and collective discussions. Field research was carried out mostly with the Manobo-Pulangihon tribe in the municipality of Quezon. This article explores how corporate land-grabbing generates Lumad resistance, thus creating emancipatory politics. First, I briefly lay down the basis of “development programs” of the government within the framework of the neoliberal economic system and contextualize the issue of land-grabbing in Lumad communities in Bukidnon. I rely heavily on the theories provided by David Harvey in crystallizing the neoliberal economic paradigm. I then propose that this market-driven economic model inevitably results in accumulation by dispossession as experienced by the Manobo-Pulangihon tribe. Third, I describe how big landlords and agro-corporations encroach the Manobo-Pulangihon Tribe ancestral lands and explore a novel form of Lumad resistance against corporate land-grab.

Saving Planet Capital – the Logical Bailout of the Financial Market

When analyzing the neoliberal model of the market in terms of the transcendental conditions it creates, researchers concentrate on two distinct categories - competition and debt. Together, they constitute a form of reason specific to the economic development which occurred in our recent history. The aim of this text is to show how the financial crisis of 2007-2008 affected these two iterations of the neoliberal economic paradigm, with the bailout procedure simultaneously breaching the rules of competition and debt and then slyly re-purposing them in order to justify the situation. This re-purposing is the eponymous logical bailout which depended on a brand new transcendental form which the market has taken on. This form is introduced in a nutshell by the formula “too big to fail”. The essay shows that this slogan helped introduce an understanding of the market in terms of an environment – an intricate and inherently fragile network whose preservation is necessary for the survival of the species inhabiting it. This transcendental shift will be discussed as a survival mechanism which allowed the neoliberal paradigm to avoid demise despite its complete fiasco.

From ‘There is No Alternative’ to ‘Maybe There are Alternatives’: five Challenges to Economic Orthodoxy after the Crash

AbstractPrior to the 2008 financial crisis, politicians famously told the public and themselves that ‘there is no alternative’ to a neoliberal economic paradigm. Fast‐forward to 2019 and there is, instead, the sense that ‘maybe there are alternatives’. However, when many observers and commentators look back to the 2008 crisis, they see a general continuity with what went before. In order to gain a better understanding of this ‘interregnum’, we map five sets of ideas and practices that challenge the policies, ideas, and conventions of pre‐crash orthodoxy. In doing so, we argue that there has been a fundamental transformation in legitimate public discourse about the economy since 2008: ideas and practices that were previously unimaginable or illegitimate in mainstream economic debate are now commonplace. Although this does not represent a ‘paradigm shift’, it represents significant political change that is important to understand and interrogate on its own terms.

Theoretical and applied aspects of restructuring the national economy of Ukraine

Introduction. The article deals with problems and consequences of the Ukrainian economy deindustrialization under the neoliberal paradigm dominance in government's economic policy. The problems of deindustrialization in transition economies during the period of postindustrial transformation in developed countries and the neoliberal economic thought dominance has so far been overlooked. The subject-matter of the study is structural shifts caused by deindustrialization and diversification of the economy. The methodological principles of research involve joint application of a set of well-known common scientific methods as well as special research methods in economics, such as retrospective analysis method to investigate the origin of modern neoliberal economic doctrines.
 Aim and tasks. The purpose of the article is to distinguish the fundamental differences in structural changes in the economy of Ukraine and developed countries and to identify key areas for restructuring the domestic economy on the basis of modernization and reindustrialization policy.
 Results. The fundamental differences between dramatic reduction of the industrial sector share in the Ukrainian economy and economy diversification with a relative decrease in the share of industry that occurs in mature economic systems under transition to the postindustrial stage of development are revealed. It’s proved that formal signs of a transition to a postindustrial society may reflect diametrically opposed trends of economic development. A critical analysis of the theoretical postulates of economic thought that underlies leading international organizations’ cooperation with individual countries is conducted. It’s argued that neoliberal economic paradigm relies on abstract, sterile, and unfeasible hypotheses based on ideology, not the experience of successful structural transformations. Key areas of Ukraine's economic policy transformation include a set of tools of budget, infrastructure, tax, customs and foreign trade policies to ensure structural changes in output and export. It’s argued that such measures, as introducing a local component criterion in public procurements, free connection of industrial objects to engineering networks, tax incentives for industrial park residents, barriers to raw materials exports, revision of Ukraine’s obligations under WTO, launching of an export-credit agency, deploying a network of official trade missions in key partner countries, etc., will trigger reindustrialization of Ukrainian economy.
 Conclusions. Implementation of a full-fledged industrial policy in developing countries is hampered by the rule of neo-liberal economic ideology, which denies the possibility of effective state governance of structural changes in the national economy. The article puts forward a critical view on the mainstream economic ideology and discusses its destructive impact on the Ukrainian economy that is worth to be introduced in masters’ graduation programs in economics. Implementation of author’s recommendations on reforming governmental economic and industrial policy is a basis for launching reindustrialization processes in the Ukrainian economy.

LEGALISED COMMERCIAL SURROGACY AND ECONOMIC NEOLIBERALISM IN INDIA: THE CONTEXT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The study throws light on the industry of commercial surrogacy (hereinafter referred as CS) and its various unexplored dynamics and angularities in the city of Delhi, which is the capital of India and hence, may be considered as a representative study for the CS regime in India. The study analyses the socio-economic status of surrogate mothers vis a vis the commissioning couples and the deep entrenched socio economic inequalities embedded in the structure of the society facilitating boom of the industry as the prime reason. This paper mainly places the CS in human rights framework at the core of the discussion. Firstly, the paper concludes that CS which is a form of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is a bliss, if used ethically and for altruistic purposes. However, it may prove a bane and can create serious crises of right to life and human dignity, especially when it operates for commercial purposes that too in unethical and unregulated informal framework. Unethical and unregulated informal framework in the context has potential to pose serious crises of human rights for both, the surrogate mother and the prospective child. Neither India nor does the international human rights law has any normative legal framework to regulate the regime of CS. The paper contextualizes CS, particularly in the neoliberal economic paradigm which India has adopted ever since 1991 and pursuing rigorously, and thereby forges links between the exploitation of surrogate mothers vis a vis economic liberalization. The analysis of the statistics of the study provides a fair idea about the functioning of the regime of CS and forces us to rethink about the idea of legalization of CS.The main hypothesis of the paper is that CS is an obvious offshoot of the ideology of economic neoliberalism and free market operating in Indian society with deep entrenched structural inequalities resulting into chronic and acute mass poverty. India has indirectly legalized CS through various judicial pronouncements. The researcher/author attributes legalization and institutionalization of CS to neoliberal economic paradigm which has enabled poor women to manage their two square meals on the one hand; it has opened doors for their institutionalized exploitation up to the extent of risking their lives and dignity, on the other hand. The paper argues that instead of performing its constitutional duties towards poor, the state by legalizing CS is encouraging poor women to lease out their wombs to meet their basic needs. This raises a serious question mark on the very legal and moral foundation of Indian state. The paper also argues that CS is actually a commoditization of a woman’s womb making outsourcing of fertility and procreation possible under free market economy. Not just the womb of the mother, the child in the womb is also treated as a commodity equally a subject matter of free market economy. Hence, CS is nothing but a naked human exploitation manifested under the domain of neoliberalism and economic globalization. Finally, the paper concludes that legalization of CS is a brazenly pervert and diabolic neoliberal utilitarian strategy of harvesting despair and mass poverty embedded in the deep entrenched socio-economic inequalities which even the rhetoric of neoliberal values cannot justify.

Effectiveness and Eficiency of Educational Systems in a Context of Shifting Educational Paradigms

Neoliberal conceptions are pervading educational context worldwide. Lithuania is not an exception. Originally conceived as a sociocultural educational paradigm is being rapidly replaced by an economical paradigm. Constrained and short-sighted preoccupation with labour market needs is a sharp shift from humanistic and cultural vision of education as social good per se.
 Effectiveness and efficiency as an important endeavour of The New Public Management today permeates our education system. Data from international surveys show clear links between investment in education and student learning outcomes, yet, as EBPO PISA 2015 demonstrates, science classrooms in Lithuanian schools come short of laboratory equipment, leaving teachers with traditional chalk and talk methods, significantly lagging behind the international ones. We ask rhetorically “outputs without inputs”?
 Despite the criticism of narrow input-output mindset growing numbers of educational efficiency studies are observed. Moving away from economical concerns to focus on the educational process educational effectiveness research includes such variables as classroom microclimate, student motivation, socioeconomic and cultural status, which is proven to have tremendous influence on student learning outcomes and overall wellbeing. Effectiveness and efficiency research though seemingly complement each other but still rarely merge.
 Our most important educational documents – Lithuania’s progress strategy “Lithuania 2030”, National Education Strategy, Education Act, The Good School Concept are characterized by humanistic rhetoric stressing the importance of social and cultural aspects of education, but more than often indicators of success are oriented towards the implementation of the neoliberal economic education paradigm which leaves a lot to be desired.

The New Generation (Late Neoclassical) Theories in Economics, the Transformation of the State and the Reflection to the Development Paradigm

The current global economic crisis has led to a growing dissatisfaction with the neo-liberal economic paradigm that became more widely known as the Washington Consensus. Washington Consensus which is as a type of free market capitalism is neoclassical economics greatly influenced by neo-liberalism, particularly in its anti-state attitudes, as with deregulation, privatization and liberalization. While the paradigm itself evolved from the late 1990s, in a more nuanced approach under the guise of a post-Washington Consensus, began to recognize a role for the state in correcting for market (largely informational) failures, neo-liberalism largely superseded by the new mainstream economics or late neoclassical economics – namely the new institutional economics, new growth theory, new economic geography and so on. Unlike the mainstream neoclassical economic paradigm the late neoclassical economics is based on the idea that markets are imperfect. Theoretically the late neoclassical economics, upon which the post-Washington Consensus draws, explain both market and non-market outcomes as the rational response to market imperfections. There is now widespread recognition, in some quarters, at least, that the state should engage in a more active role in guiding industrial development, primarily to negate market failure and to overcome the negative conditions of global economic crisis. This paper is largely focused on the paradigm shift of neo-liberalism, primarily from the market fundamentalism to negate market failure, government transformation in the light of late neoclassical theories in economics, and also seeks to demonstrate that policies based on this new paradigm, governments shifted slightly to a revised neoliberal model that approved different version of (market-friendly) state intervention.

Notes on a theatre commons: Common Wealth’s The Deal Versus the People (2015)

ABSTRACTThe Deal Versus the People was a theatrical response created by people in Bradford (UK) to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). A controversial trade deal between the European Union and United States being negotiated at the time of the production, TTIP threatened to deepen trade liberalisation, with potentially negative impacts for communities on both sides of the Atlantic. In this article, I examine the ways The Deal Versus the People critically engaged with TTIP, and the neoliberal economic paradigm that it is an expression of, by mobilising a ‘commons’ across the theatrical and social landscapes of its production.

ECOWAS and Regional Integration in West Africa: From State to Emerging Private Authority

AbstractThe Economic Community of West African States was established in 1975 due to the leadership initiative of Nigeria and Togo as well as the cooperation of other Heads of State and Governments in the subregion. It was established within the framework of the consciousness of the need to develop a regional platform for cooperation and development. Since inception various institutions have been established, treaties and protocols have been signed and deadlines have been set for realising the objective conditions for which the subregional body was set up. Integration and regionalism in Africa have seen some twists and turns depending on the prevailing socio‐economic and ideological conditions both at the domestic and international environments. Various efforts have been made towards building regionalism in West Africa, especially within the context of neoliberal economic paradigm in which removal of barriers to market access and other factors of production is the main concern. Despite some successes, the effectiveness of the subregional body has been hampered through both domestic and external factors. News actors in form of private authority of indigenous multinational companies and other non‐state actors are emerging which could facilitate integration in the sub‐region in a more sublime and functional sense than the approach taken by political elites over the past 50 years. This paper discusses these new trends in integration within the theoretical prisms of networked political economy, private authority and regional identity. I also examine the institutional developments that have taken place since it was formed about 40 years ago.