Does COVID-19 as a Long Wave Turning Point Mean the End of Neoliberalism?

Abstract

The author claims that the COVID-19 pandemic could cause neoliberalism to break, based on four arguments addressed in four sections. The first section demonstrates that such a break is possible within the long wave theory framework. The second section points out that the neoliberal long wave was created by certain social and political actors from the 1980s onward and has already entered the downswing period since 2008. The third section shows that COVID-19 creates an economic crisis that causes an ideological transformation that further weakens neoliberalism. The fourth section emphasizes that the attitudes of industrial relations actors (and conflicts between them) will affect the shaping of the post-COVID-19 period. As a result, the trade union political action will be crucial in the coming years to revive themselves and create more regulated capital–labor relations.

The crisis of US neoliberalism and the risk of current economic stagflation

“…Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, scholars have continually revisited the question of whether the neoliberal SSA has ended. Kılıç (2021) argues within the framework of the long-wave theory that the COVID-19 pandemic, as a long-wave turning point, is likely to signal the end of neoliberal SSA and has created an economic crisis triggering an ideological transformation and further weakening neoliberalism. Chinese scholars have also studied the current economic stagnation and democratic political crisis in the capitalist society based on the SSA theory.…”

COVID-19 and global clothing retailers' responsibility to vulnerable workers: NGO counter-rhetoric

“…In particular, the COVID-19 COVID 19 and global supply chain workers pandemic "is a vivid illustration of the great damage that the neoliberal era has done to the large majority of the population" (Chomsky, 2020). Within the broader (perhaps interdisciplinary) field and public sphere, many see the impact of COVID-19 and the behaviour of dominating actors (such as MNCs) as a "colossal failure" of neoliberalism (see for example, Magdaleno, 2020;Navarro, 2020;Neilson, 2021;Bryant et al, 2020;Kılıç, 2020). During the pandemic, along with critical academics, civil society groups including NGOs have used counter-rhetoric to challenge the neoliberal hegemony in global trade.…”

Applauded ‘nightingales’ voicing discontent. Exploring labour unrest in health and social care in Europe before and since the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This indicates that the pandemic has opened up political opportunities, in terms of budgetary capacities, for union demands in some countries. It remains to be seen, however, whether the pandemic will in fact constitute a 'historic' turning point in the organisation and delivery of care from its creeping neoliberalisation (Kılıc ¸, 2021). Will today's 'interventionist' governments also refrain from rampant marketisation and privatisation, and revert once more to public not-for-profit care?…”