Bulletproof Neoliberalism

To understand how a body of thought became an era of capitalism requires more than intellectual history.

Neoliberalism? Never Heard of It

The latest liberal parlor game is pretending there’s no such thing as neoliberalism. The game’s very popularity highlights neoliberalism’s enduring hegemony.

When Neoliberalism Hijacked Human Rights

When the architects of neoliberalism cobbled together their new economic order at Mont Pelerin, they included a moral vision with it. Co-opting the once revolutionary concepts of universal human rights, neoliberals refashioned the idea of freedom by tying it fundamentally to the free market, and turning it into a weapon to be used against anticolonial projects all over the world.

The Neoliberal Turn in American Health Care

The failings of the Affordable Care Act are rooted in a long shift away from the idea of a truly universal health care.

The Right Fearmongers About Progressives, But the Democratic Party Remains Neoliberal

The Left’s beachhead in Congress has grown in the last few years. But at the current rate of expansion, the Left will remain a minority in the Democratic Party’s congressional caucus until 2091. We can’t wait that long for change.

Labor’s Neoliberal Caucus

The Neoliberal Order Is Crumbling. It’s Up to Us What Comes Next.

Neoliberalism may not be dead, but it is no longer the unquestioned ideology of our time. That leaves a huge opening for those on the Left who want to see a political and economic order based on democracy and solidarity rather than unbridled profit-seeking.

A Mélenchon Government Would Shake the Foundations of Neoliberalism in Europe

Jean-Luc Mélenchon's left-wing coalition is neck and neck with Emmanuel Macron’s party in polls for today’s French parliamentary elections. The coalition’s victory would shake the neoliberal order in France and across the European Union.

The First Neoliberals

How free-market disciples and union busters became the prophets of American liberalism.

How Neoliberalism Embraced Human Rights

The intellectual godfathers of neoliberalism knew they needed to attach a philosophy of high-minded ideals to the vicious free-market system they wanted to spread around the globe. They found such a philosophy by perverting the idea of human rights.

When Socialist Hungary Went Neoliberal

The events of 1989 are usually remembered as an unprecedented extension of the “free market” to formerly socialist countries. But as the history of 1970s Hungary shows, neoliberal restructuring had never been limited to the West — and spread East long before the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

The Death of Neoliberalism Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

Despite predictions of its demise, the neoliberal power bloc of think tanks and lobby groups is still deeply entrenched and pushing into new territory, from health care to space exploration. Neoliberalism won’t be over until the Left can challenge that power.

China’s Economy Dodged Neoliberal Shock Therapy — and Boomed

In the 1980s, as China sought to introduce markets into its economy, an internal debate roiled over whether to liberalize prices gradually or all at once. It rejected the free-market shock therapy option, and challenged neoliberal orthodoxy in the process.

France’s Election Shows How the Neoliberalized Left Has Collapsed

France’s once mighty Socialist Party is polling at just 1 percent for today’s presidential election. With middle-class progressivism in a tailspin, only France Insoumise’s firm break with neoliberalism offers a path to recovery for the French left.

Italy’s Crisis Is Rooted in a Decades-Long Neoliberal Offensive

This fall’s Italian elections saw voters punish the incumbent parties of government yet again. But behind the upheaval in the party system is a narrowing of real political choice, as working-class interests struggle to find electoral expression.

Neoliberal State Failure Is Slowing Down Vaccine Distribution

Forty years of neoliberal hollowing out of state capacity is what’s responsible for Europe and Canada's great failure to quickly vaccinate people.

The Neoliberal State in Pakistan Is a Machine for Plunder

Pakistani neoliberalism hasn’t rolled back state intervention in the economy. Building on a predatory tradition that dates back to British colonial rule, it has used state power to enforce the ruthless exploitation of Pakistan’s workers and natural resources.

Challenging Chile’s Neoliberal Consensus

New movements in Chile are fighting to bring down the country's post-Pinochet establishment.

The Rumors Are False — Neoliberalism Is Alive and Well

Recent announcements of neoliberalism’s demise in the wake of the pandemic are mistaken. Ending neoliberalism will require purposeful effort and struggle, not just economic and political crises.

How Decades of Neoliberalism Led to the Era of Right-Wing Populism

Right-wing neoliberalism’s assault on the very idea of society laid the groundwork for today’s right-wing nationalist backlash. But the Left’s hands aren’t entirely clean either.