Read https://global.oup.com/academic/product/neoliberalism-a-very-short-introduction-9780198849674

Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction* Explores the origins, evolution, and core ideas of neoliberalism * Discusses the impact of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and the related European Sovereign Debt Crisis on neoliberal ideals and systems * Considers the global variations of neoliberalism * Part of the Very Short Introductions series – over ten million copies sold worldwide

New to this Edition:* Includes a new final chapter focused on the impact of resurgent national populism on neoliberalism

Source: Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction by @OUPAcademic

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I am not sure what I expected when I dived into Manfred B. Steger and Ravi K. Roy’s Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction (2nd Edition). Over the years I have read a number of these books, but never really ventured far into the unknown. For me, neoliberalism was a topic that I felt I knew enough about, but had never actually properly considered it in its own right. What was interesting was there isn’t really anything as such that one could state as defining as ‘neoliberalism’, rather it is is made of four strands that produce their own interpretation depending on context.

Neoliberalism is a rather broad and general concept referring to an economic model or paradigm that rose to prominence in the 1980s. Built upon the classical liberal ideal of the self-regulating market, neoliberalism comes in several strands and variations. Perhaps the best way to conceptualize neoliberalism is to think of it as four intertwined manifestations: (1) an ideology; (2) a mode of governance; (3) a policy package; (4) a particular form of capitalism.

The book walks through the history of liberalism and then neoliberalism. It then documents the various ways it has been taken up around the world.

One thing that was interesting was the way in which Trump’s measures can be construed as “nationalist volves in neoliberal sheep’s clothing.”

Our assessment of Trumpism reveals a messy ideological mixture that advances some core principles of economic nationalism while also furthering significant items of the neoliberal agenda. For this reason, it might be apt to characterize his economic stance in contradictory terms as ‘nationalist neoliberalism’, or, as other commentators have suggested, as ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. While this contradictory concept indicates that neoliberalism is now suffering from a deepening legitimation crisis that has buoyed the fortunes of national populism, it also reveals the uncanny staying power of some major neoliberal tenets.

In the end, the book could have been easily been retitled, what we talk about when we talk about neoliberalism.

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