Neoliberal Approach Research Articles

New Architecture of Foreign Direct Investment Regulation in the European Union

This article examines current trends in financial governance within the European Union (EU), focusing on the regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI). The adoption of supranational mechanisms for EU FDI screening through Regulation 2019/452 not only highlights the expansion of multi-level governance, as promoted by the European Commission, but also reconfigures the EU's role as a global actor in investment transactions. This shift directly impacts a wide range of stakeholders.The study aims to explore the institutional architecture established by Regulation 2019/452 and address the research question: Why has the EU transitioned from a neoliberal approach favoring free capital movement (positive integration) to a framework emphasizing common European monitoring rules (negative integration)? The theoretical framework combines the concept of multi-level governance and securitization theory, underpinned by new institutionalism, which facilitates an analysis of how institutions, particularly the European Commission, articulate and advance common interests within political frameworks. The findings reveal that the securitization of Chinese FDI served as a critical tool for the Commission to legitimize its push for supranational regulation. Regulation 2019/452 is identified as “entry-level legislation,” designed to be amended through its built-in revision mechanism, ultimately broadening the Commission’s exclusive competencies in this area. This trajectory was partially confirmed by the Commission’s January 2024 proposal to strengthen the Regulation. The analysis situates this shift within a broader global context, demonstrating how the EU's move from neoliberalism to protectionism mirrors trends in other major economies, such as the United States, China, and India, all of which employ FDI monitoring mechanisms. The article also identifies key events that acted as catalysts for the EU’s geopolitical reassessment of foreign investment—from a stance of openness to recognizing potential threats to collective security and public order. It draws a parallel with the Commission’s use of securitization discourse in the energy sector, which contributed to the partial communitarization of energy policy through multi-level governance.

Dilemma of Individualism and Freedom in Neoliberal Understanding

There is a clear tension in the neoliberal approach to individualism and freedom. Focusing on the process of individualization and individual self-determination in markets, neoclassical approaches recognize that individuals are committed to social mobility and responsibility to act within market rules on, individual autonomy and the ability to set self-determined goals appear to be limited to market participation. The market is seen as an inherently dynamic system developed over time. According to Hayek, individualism refers to social progress and conformity to society. The aim of this paper is to respectfully examine the apparent inconsistencies and limitations of how individual freedom and choice have been conceptualized by neoliberal thinkers, through an analysis of the works of Hayek and Friedman. Neoliberal policies articulate the notion of free will and question the definition of freedom from a purely economic perspective. By further examining these nuances, the study hopes to reflect on the personal and societal political implications associated with neoliberalism’s more limited understanding of self-government and voluntarism. Finally, an examination of balanced perspectives can add to the ongoing discussion on how best to organize social policies that maximize individual dignity and collective well-being in the long run at in a constructive manner.

Counterinsurgency, forest governance, and the dynamics of change in the forests of South Asia: Transition in Bangladesh's forests

Since the end of the Cold War, attention has increasingly focused globally on the nexus of conflict, natural resources, and governance, particularly in forested regions. This paper presents a comprehensive historical and comparative analysis of forest and biodiversity loss in Bangladesh over the last 50 years, attending to the impacts of counterinsurgency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and governance changes in the plains. Drawing on Peter Vandergeest and Nancy Peluso's seminal concept of “political forests,” the study critically analyzes how counterinsurgency, state-led development, and green militarization in the CHT, alongside neoliberal development, commercialization, and land grabbing in the plains, have reshaped forest governance and territorial control in the country. The analysis reveals that counterinsurgencies in the CHT, driven by domestic priorities and strategic interests, expanded colonial-style territorial control over forests, thereby exacerbating biodiversity loss. In the plains, neoliberal governance has promoted forest degradation through commercial exploitation and state-sanctioned land grabbing, with economic growth being pursued at the cost of environmental sustainability. This paper presents a critique of both militarized and neoliberal approaches to conservation, demonstrating how these models prioritize political and economic agendas over ecological integrity and local community needs. In conclusion, the study advocates a paradigmatic shift toward inclusive, community-centered forest governance that empowers local populations and emphasizes environmental stewardship, challenging dominant state-centric and market-driven approaches to forest management.

Rethinking Industrial Strategies and the State: A Global South Perspective

Abstract: After decades of opposition and neglect in the context of a dominating neoliberal approach to markets and institutions, industrial policy has experienced a renaissance. In the wake of financial, climate, and health crises, setting a sound industrial strategy has emerged as an absolute policy priority. Yet contemporary industrial strategies remain bound by outdated frameworks and preconceptions. Those shaped by the Global North in particular fall short of addressing the unique challenges Global South countries face, including limited state capacity, dependence on volatile global markets, and colonial legacies. These factors necessitate a radical rethinking of industrial strategy. The article argues that to avoid reproducing the mainstream view of state intervention, industrial strategy should fundamentally rethink the role of the state—not as a market fixer, but as a capable and confident market shaper.

Distractive language education policies and the endangerment of Indigenous languages in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Focusing on language education policies in Bangladesh, this article shows how the policies have distracted people’s attention from the harms inflicted on the country’s Indigenous communities and their languages. I discuss two factors that have contributed to policy distractions in this context: a strong form of Bangla linguistic nationalism and a neoliberal approach to English language teaching. To address the problem of language education policy distractions, I put forward an argument for paying attention to what matters the most for protecting linguistic human rights and fostering linguistic diversity. Paying such transformative attention will require a mother-tongue-based multilingual approach to education and the creation of territorial niches for protecting and promoting endangered languages.

Refugees as Entrepreneurs? A Challenge to HDP Programmes

ABSTRACT Protracted refugee situations in territories of war or natural hazards challenge the logic of the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus that inspires liberal humanitarianism. The organised expression of that nexus is the so-called ‘integrated approach’ in which humanitarian aid, development aid and peacebuilding are intertwined in missions aimed at promoting a durable peace. The experiences of camps for Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Jordan and of South Sudanese and Congolese refugees in Uganda question some basic assumptions of the HDP programmes. In the last two decades, the policies adopted in these locations show a two-fold reconfiguration of the HDP liberal programme: first, the aim of containing humanitarian crises locally, in the peripheries, thereby preventing their adverse effects spreading to the core of the international system; second, a focus on refugees’ capacity to become more resilient and entrepreneurial in order to overcome their vulnerable condition. Overall, this so-called neoliberal approach to humanitarianism with its focus on containment and individual entrepreneurship-inspired resilience has moved away from its liberal configuration as part of a systemic reconfiguration of local social fabric.

Intra-Africa trade and the need to rethink the neo-liberal approach

Notwithstanding past trade reforms, trade in Africa and particularly intra-Africa trade, remain dismal. Africa has even created economic communities, fitted with monetary, fiscal, and socio-political anchors, by way of various Regional Economic Communities (RECs) – now reflected by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Whilst these have yielded marginal benefits, the persistence of low intra-Africa trade calls into question their suitability. Focused on the realities of institutions targeted by these reforms and Africa's context – i.e., weak linkages between institutions, high informality, and low social capital – we posit that reforms have not elicited the hoped-for high intra-Africa trade because of their near total reliance on the neo-liberal approach, which neglects Africa's context. Drawing on Africa's sociology and new institutional economics, we use a conceptual institutional analysis to evolve a political economy based framework that suggests potential solutions: Linking the formal sector that currently underpins economic/trade policies to the informal institutions that are reflective of Africa's norms, values, cultures and expectations (the informal sector), and scaling up production; via the cooperatives production model, strategic procurement mandates, and effectuation of continental transportation infrastructure network, are our recommended pathways to reversing the current dismal intra-continental trade.

The Salvage Frontier: Place, Nature, and Neoliberalism in a Small Northern Town

AbstractThe transition to a neoliberal economy that has been happening in Northern Canada has promised increasing control over resources to residents. Yet, the neoliberal approach carries significant risk, especially as it attempts to extract profit from failed and abandoned public projects—what Anna Tsing calls “salvage accumulation”. In Churchill, Manitoba, the primary economic drivers—shipping and tourism—have turned the town as a place into a particular type of salvage commodity. Built upon abandoned infrastructure, non‐human nature, the collapse of other industries, and the changing climate, these industries rely upon the overall place image of Churchill to bring non‐market goods into the commodity process. This process removes local control of place image (and experience) yet still embeds the risk of the venture in the location itself. Salvage accumulation as an entrepreneurial practice unequally distributes the risk onto residents while allowing the profits to accrue elsewhere.

Schools don’t care: Rearticulating care ethics in education

Schools self-identify as caring communities and teach young children to be caring for each other. But schools also teach other contradictory and competing messages, such as individualism and self-reliance, rationalist concepts of justice and meritocracy, and other neoliberal approaches to life and community. Furthermore, while endorsements of care are commonly found in educational institutions, caring is not always (or even often) practiced or regarded as a major aim in schools, in contrast with human capital approaches to youth development. This essay examines how schools do and don’t care. At its core is the rearticulation of care ethics in education, and what caring means within the contemporary field. Over time, enthusiasm for care ethics has peaked and waned. It begins with a brief explanation of what caring is within the field of care ethics, before it considers how caring is ideally involved in education. In this case, discourses of care ethics and caring in education can be coopted against the writings of care ethicists to complement positive psychology, socially conservative character education and civic education, and individualistic and neoliberal approaches to education. As a result, schools can appear to care, but do so in highly distorted ways. These distortions, I argue, do not reveal fundamental limitations or flaws within care ethics approaches to care. Instead, they demand a reconsideration and rearticulation of care ethics in the contemporary education landscape: a context which has changed considerably since debates and articulations of care ethics in the 1980s.

Promoting Social Solidarity Economy in Tunisia: Neoliberal Assumptions and Missed Opportunities Within the Triple Nexus Discourse

ABSTRACT Formally launched by the United Nations (UN) in 2016, the so-called Triple Nexus has been adopted by several international donors that have intervened in Tunisia since the fall of its authoritarian regime. Faced with the state's limited capacity to address critical post-revolutionary challenges such as escalating poverty and radicalisation, external actors – spanning multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental organisations – have endeavoured to tackle humanitarian, development and security issues to promote stability and support the fragile democratisation process in the country. In this context, Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) initiatives have gained prominence as a means to concurrently address diverse challenges associated with the ‘lack of social development’, including marginalisation and the absence of social cohesion – identified as catalysts for radicalisation and instability. In contrast with these stated objectives, fieldwork spanning 2015 to 2019 across various regions of Tunisia reveals that the international donor discourse on SSE, entrenched in a neoliberal approach and government securitisation strategies, exacerbates economic insecurity and amplifies marginalisation.

(e)Managing the uncertainty of tuberculosis in the post-Soviet limbo: Tracking prisoners' coerced mobility for treatment in Ukrainian prisons

The collapse of the Soviet Union triggered an escalation of the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic in many post-Soviet countries, including Ukraine. The main reasons for this situation include both the approach to TB care and the concentration of TB cases in prisons. The neoliberal approach to TB care system reform promises the optimization of treatment terms, "dehospitalization" and “despecialization” of the system of care, and a different type of control, established through digital technologies. One such technology is the “e-TB Manager”, which was designated as a national TB registry, including in the prison system in 2012.In prison, where everyone “is to be fixed” and isolated, the uncertainty of patients’ movements seems to be avoided by pre-existing conditions. In practice, however, the vertically aligned, centralized organizational structure of the post-Soviet prison implies a constant need to link its elements together through “coerced” mobility carried out in secrecy. Treatment in exile may not be the primary goal of such a practice, but it becomes the result when prisoners from numerous prison facilities are sent to a limited number of prison TB hospitals. The integration of the e-TB Manager as a tool to enable the tracking of patient movements and, consequently, improve the efficiency of diagnostic and treatment processes in prison, can be seen as both a purely technical measure and a “magic bullet”.In this article, we argue that, in the case of Ukrainian prisons, the neoliberal approach and the Soviet socialist approach to gaining control over TB indeed adapt and reinforce each other but fail to compete meaningfully. The fragmented implementation of one is absorbed by the fundamental and resilient nature of the other to produce and reproduce the state of “post-Soviet limbo”. We use the “post-Soviet limbo” as an overall framework aimed at conceptualizing the post-Soviet transformation as a combination of efforts to avoid and manage the uncertainty of TB treatment, especially in prison. We examine the empirical case of coerced mobility of prisoners who require TB treatment, seeking to trace how this process is reflected in the e-TB Manager. We provide a more in-depth picture of this journey with details gathered from qualitative research materials to situate numbers and variables in their contexts, deconstructing the way the data are recorded according to the logic of the system in which they are produced.

The Pillars of Power and Policy of Social Policymaking in Authoritarian Regimes

This article addresses the puzzle of the politics of social policy formation by two post-communist authoritarian regimes in China and Russia. It argues that two interrelated dimensions—which we term the pillars of power and policy—shape social policymaking and change in authoritarian regimes and support authoritarian regime stability. The pillar of power involves autocrats’ bargains with the public and elites, while the policy pillar includes bureaucratic and ideational processes. The latter are understood as the way policy actors perceive problems, choose solutions, and frame their policy choices. To demonstrate this empirically, the article analyzes and compares Chinese and Russian housing policies between 1990 and 2020. We find that despite bureaucratic competition within the policy pillar, neoliberal policy beliefs have guided policy while statist measures served to support—in China—and deepen—in Russia—the neoliberal approach focused on private homeownership. Yet, neoliberal measures have been channeled in ways that underpinned and adjusted the authoritarian regime bargains with different segments of the public and the elite within the pillar of power. Policy framing to match social cultural ideas was used in both countries to support public acceptance of the neoliberal measures while underlining the state’s care for people’s housing needs.

Rethinking the (Un)just Transition: A Review of the Impact of Neoliberal Approaches to Energy Governance in South Africa

South Africa has demonstrated a firm commitment to a just transition from coal to renewable energy sources by outlining a roadmap for the decommissioning of its coal-fired power stations and procuring clean energy. Ideally, this is a laudable response to climate change and a pathway to a sustainable future. However, the just transition is not inherently just because of the underlying neoliberal policies that underpin it, and which are, to a large degree, not in South Africa’s best interests. The purported just transition has unintended results, such as undermining South Africa’s energy sovereignty, perpetuating existing global power imbalances, aggravating energy poverty, and leading to many economic and social injustices. This paper uses doctrinal legal research to explore the influence of neoliberal policies in South Africa’s just transition towards renewable energy. It argues that a truly Just Energy Transition must be grounded in South Africa’s best interests and should not sacrifice the country’s energy sovereignty for a perceived greater good at a time when giant economies in the West, which are responsible for the bulk of activities which contribute to climate change, are revamping their coal-fired power stations and buying South Africa’s coal for their own heating, lighting, and industry. To achieve this, the paper examines the duplicity arising from what may be perceived as an embrace of neoliberal policies in fighting climate change by phasing out existing energy sources at a time when economic activity in the country is retreating due to the lack of a consistent and reliable energy supply. As such, the paper makes a case for an energy-sovereign South Africa that prioritises domestic control over energy resources, promotes renewable energy deployment that is socially just and equitable, and empowers communities to shape their energy futures. It argues that for South Africa to attain energy sovereignty, it must look into its own resources and revisit the neoliberal aspects of its law and policy that compromise its ability to fight energy poverty.

EXAMINING THE EFFECT OF MOROCCAN INFORMAL MICROENTERPRISES’ ATTRIBUTES ON THE DECISION TO TRANSITION INTO A FORMAL STATUS

Microenterprises have long been neglected in theoretical debates on the informal sector, receiving limited attention and superficial analysis. The aim of this article is to study the influence of the characteristics of informal microenterprises in Morocco on the decision to move to the formal sector. The article adopts a quantitative approach, focusing on 500 informal microentrepreneurs in northern Morocco. Through descriptive statistics and the use of a binomial logistic regression model, the study focuses on the effects of multiple aspects of these businesses. Data is collected and analyzed using the open-source tool R. The survey results reveal that engagement in a service-providing activity, the availability of business premises, and hiring more than four workers positively affect the propensity to formalize Moroccan informal microenterprises. Similarly, the use of simplified accounting systems, a longer period of existence and recourse to subcontracting are factors that encourage these ventures to opt for formalization. These findings are of key theoretical importance, exploiting the singularity of the Moroccan context and challenging the adoption of the neoliberal approach to explaining informality in Morocco. The conclusions are accompanied by recommendations designed to stimulate the transition to a formal sector. Implications of these findings for policy-makers, practitioners and entrepreneurs are discussed.

Gender employment contradictions in Israeli nonprofit organizations providing social care

PurposeThis article asks how gender, ethnicity and other identities intersect and shape the employment experiences of social workers. During recent decades, governments have contracted social care to for-profit and nonprofit organizations (NPOs) globally as a part of the adaption of the neoliberal approach. Most employees in these organizations are women. However, there is a lack of knowledge about women working in social service NPOs and their unique working environments.Design/methodology/approachThis article explores the experiences of women employed as social workers in social care NPOs in Israel regarding intersectionality. 27 in-depth interviews were conducted with women social workers working in social service NPOs. Participants reflected diversity in ethnicity, religion and full-time and part-time jobs. Thematic analysis was used.FindingsThe findings shed light on: (1) the contradiction social workers experienced between the stated values of the social care NPO and those values’ conduct, (2) intersectional discrimination among social workers from vulnerable populations and (3) the lack of gender-aware policies.Social implicationsThe need to raise awareness of the social care sector and governments to those contradictions and to promote diversity through gender-aware policies and practices.Originality/valueThe article suggests a conceptualization describing gender employment contradictions in social care NPOs, discusses how the angle of intersectionality expands the understanding of the complexities and pressures exerted on social workers from minority groups and emphasizes the need for social care NPOs to acknowledge and deal with these contradictions.

Civil Society Participation in Global Food Security Governance: Deconstructing the Discourse of Evidence-based Policy Making

Food security has been described as a very tough problem, suggesting that there is no single or simple solution to the problem of food insecurity. Meanwhile, there is a growing body of academic literature on food security that proposes solutions. Global governance is marked by a participatory turn, meaning that there are increasing numbers of global governance processes working to develop processes and mechanisms to enhance the participation of non-state actors in governance and policy making processes. Given this trend, it is not surprising that participation in governance processes has become an interesting site of investigation for research. The result has been the development of a growing body of literature analysing diverse aspects of increased participation, which calls for evidence-based policy making are increasing evidence in global food security policy processes, and beyond. For example, the follow up and review process for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to be “rigorous and based on evidence, informed by country-led evaluations and data which is high-quality, accessible, timely, reliable and disaggregated” (UN General Assembly, 2015, paragraph. 74). Evidence-based policy has become pervasive as a universal recipe for transparency, accountability, and good governance. However, its declamatory pervasiveness within public policy buries conglomerate discourses, signification, and practices around what counts as evidence, how and by whom it is utilised, and what impact it has on scholars, researchers, and policy officers. This research furnishes an overview of comprehensive reviews of literature and analyzes special issues of global food security, and policy frameworks. The conquest of evidence-based policy as a discourse, highlighting its close relationship with food security policies, the political, cultural context of its initial emergence in the global world, and its discourses. Evidence-based policy is customarily articulated as a means of speaking truth to power, separating facts from their human contexts. Global discourses on the governance of food security span competing approaches. For example, a neoliberal approach advocates commercialized, industrial agriculture, while food sovereignty and resilience are part of an alternative discourse to food security that prioritizes locally-based agroecological food production. Understanding how global discourses play out locally and how they impact the environment and biodiversity is important to identify appropriate pathways towards sustainability. In addition to their effects on food security, different approaches could reinforce or impede the success of biodiversity conservation because of the strong interdependence of food security and ecosystems. I examined alternative approaches to food security and biodiversity conservation pursued by 30 stakeholders from local to national levels. Agricultural intensification, commercialization, and profit were widely considered important, while support for agroecology and resilience was largely restricted to non-governmental organizations. Except for supporters of the agroecology and resilience approach, biodiversity conservation was considered as a secondary goal. In conclusion, it is important to acknowledge plurality of food security approaches because local conditions are characterized by a multiplicity of stakeholder interests, and because food security is a complex problem that requires a multidimensional approach. However, major contradictions among existing approaches need to be reconciled, and the agroecology and resilience approach should be strengthened to ensure the sustainable achievement of food security and biodiversity conservation.

“I am no longer part of this rat race”: student resistance to neoliberal accounting education in Pakistan

ABSTRACT Studies of accounting education have exposed the link between traditional ways of teaching accounting and neoliberal beliefs. Nevertheless, the perspectives of students are yet to attract a level of attention that is consistent with their crucial role in the accounting education system. Drawing upon Scott’s understanding of “infrapolitics” and resistance, the study investigates how students make sense of neoliberal accounting education and react. Interviews with students at five highly regarded universities in Pakistan show how the former are aware of the challenges posed by neoliberal approaches to accounting education. By investigating the under-explored context of Pakistan, this study enhances understanding of power and resistance by illuminating how accounting students perceive neoliberal values taught in higher education and resist their inculcation. The study focuses on less obvious forms of resistance, showing how allegedly passive actors as students may well be resisting neoliberal principles enshrined in accounting education in unobstructive forms.

Community-Based Wildlife Conservation on Pastoral Lands in Kenya: A New Logic of Production with Implications for the Future of Pastoralism

Community-based wildlife conservation has been identified as a potentially successful approach to meet the needs of wildlife and the interests of local communities living among wildlife, national governments, and the global community interested in stemming the extinction crisis facing the planet. There is a significant literature critiquing the neoliberal approach to community-based conservation arguing that it has not been successful in meeting conservation goals or community goals. While in agreement with many of the critiques and the general calls for a more equitable direction that respects and draws on local and indigenous value systems, we focus on some of the implications of community-based conservation for pastoralism in Samburu County, Kenya. We employed an ethnographic approach, integrating informal and in-depth interviews, a random sample survey of 300 households, participant observation, and experimental economics games. Our findings show that the establishment of core areas, buffer zones, and grazing strategies that depart radically from previous practices reduced pastoralists’ access to critical rangeland resources and forced them to find pastures elsewhere. Thus, while community-based conservation purports to encourage landscape-level land management and coordination, in practice, it contributes to land fragmentation. Our results also explain why community-based conservation persists despite the costs for pastoralists.

Towards ecological everything – The ecological university, ecological subjectivity and the ecological curriculum

There are no perfect solutions to the complex mess the planet is in right now, but there might be some better directions for the contemporary ‘university in ruins’ (Readings, 1996). In a world of struggling liberal democracies, climate change, biodiversity loss and global pandemics, this paper builds on the philosophical work informing the Ecological University (Barnett, 2018; Stratford, 2019) to shore up the theoretical groundwork for an ecological approach to higher education. While such a concept is fanciful (or utopian) in many respects, the possibilities for an ‘ecological’ turn in higher education policy and practice – beyond liberal and neoliberal approaches to higher education – point towards university policy and practice requiring a clearer understanding of ecological subjectivity as a basis for an ecological curriculum in higher education. This paper explores how ecological subjectivity could be developed via the concept of Anthropocene Intelligence. It explores how Anthropocene Intelligence can be used as a way of challenging the mainstream, liberal context of the higher education curriculum. Several ways in which this might occur are pointed to with potential changes to economics teaching being detailed as an example of the transformation that might be possible in an ecological higher education curriculum.

“Useless degrees”, quality assurance, and employable graduates: neoliberal effects on University Education in Kenya

At a time when it is critical to understand humanity and its various forms of socioeconomic and political life, anthropology and other social sciences are being threatened by a neoliberal emphasis on “relevant” courses in universities in Kenya. Universities are suffering from a push for “relevance” at the detriment of their traditional role of being a public good. Using personal experiences, comparative secondary data overview and analysis, I discuss the challenges facing university education in Kenya under neoliberalism. I argue that the erstwhile role of universities serving the public good has been transformed so much that they struggle to be “sustainable” through “income generating activities” and teach “marketable courses” that will guarantee graduates employment upon graduation. This neoliberal approach to university education follows the growth of a capitalist ethic which started with Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) that has continually erased the welfare state and turned university education into a commodity and students as customers with preferences rather than as citizens with a right to education. Such a focus is detrimental to cultivating graduates who are well rounded and can respond to the challenges and opportunities of our ever-changing world.