Depoliticization and the continuity of neoliberal policies

Abstract

The resilience of neoliberal economic policies after the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) is one of the main puzzle political economists have coped with in recent years. In response, various authors have convincingly explained that the crisis did not significantly erode the political dominance of neoliberal ideas, interests, and institutions and therefore their influence on economic policies was maintained. But what explains the resilience of neoliberal policies even when their political dominance is eroded by significant social and political powers that challenge them? I argue that one important factor which supports neoliberal policies in such circumstances is the ideational-institutional depoliticization of economic policymaking. Specifically, the paper focuses on the political influence of neoliberal ideas of government: economic ideas that focus on appropriate decision-making processes rather than on appropriate policies per se, and which have guided the pre-GFC depoliticization of economic decision-making. The paper argues that ideational-institutional depoliticization has restrained the ability and willingness of powerful social and political actors to change neoliberal policies. This argument is demonstrated through a process-tracing analysis of three cases studies in which neoliberal policies were challenged, which took place in Sweden (2014–2018) and Israel (2011–2019).