Ending Neoliberalism

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new round of obituaries for neoliberalism, with some declaring that we have entered the stage of “postneoliberalism.” Rather than weighing in on the debates about whether neoliberalism has or has not ended, this article reflects on the theoretical framework in which neoliberalism's end has come to be posited. The article calls this framework “ending,” which allows the theorist to make “imaginative investments in coherent patterns” (Frank Kermode) with beginnings, middles, and ends. By drawing on Kermode's literary theory, the article lays out three key features of ending as a theoretical framework: a teleological vision of history; a Euro- and Anglocentric view of neoliberalism; and a distinction between a neoliberal policy paradigm and modes of subjectification. The article then goes on to explore the political limitations of ending, especially for the left, through a reading of Gary Gerstle's The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order (2022). To finish, the article seeks to resurrect ending as a metatheoretical device in which ending as a framework becomes the subject of theorization. Doing so, the article proposes, helps the left to reflect on the position from which it analyzes neoliberalism, as well as to better connect such reflection to concrete political projects that seek to actively end neoliberalism.