The Neo-liberal State

Abstract

This book has two central aims. The first is to give a fair, comprehensive, and analytical account of the central features of the neo‐liberal view about the role and limits of the state in the modern world. It considers important ideas such as the contrast between a state based on rules and the one based on outcomes, the implications of this contrast for the rule of law, for the ideas of freedom, social justice, and rights. It provides a full account of the neo‐liberal view of the relationship between the state and the economy and to civil society and voluntary organizations. It draws upon a wide range of works by neo‐liberal thinkers to build up the theoretical case for this conception of the role of government and politics. The thinkers at the heart of this part of the study are Hayek, Buchanan, Mises, Menger, as well as others who while not regarding themselves as neo‐liberals nevertheless have contributed to neo‐liberal ideas. These include Oakeshott, Nozick, and Rothbard. The study also looks at the public policy implications of neo‐liberal ideas in relation to the role of the welfare state and other forms of public sector provision. The second part of the book provides a detailed critical appraisal of some of the central neo‐liberal doctrines particularly in relation to the core ideas of freedom, justice, rights, the role of collective organizations in civil society, and the provision of welfare. The book argues that contrary to neo‐liberal arguments there is no coherent way of providing a sharp and categorical distinction between neo‐liberalism and Social Democracy on the one hand and libertarianism on the other.

Defining Minimum Income (and Living) Standards in Europe: Methodological Issues and Policy Debates

“…Such arguments were used by politicians on the right to attack social welfare services and by libertarian political philosophers to justify the market allocation of population resources rather than state bureaucracy which, it is claimed, interferes with the pursuit of private ends (Bowpitt, 2000). 3 Today, however, politicians are more likely to be acutely aware of the limits to such market reasoning as Plant (2012) argues. Few liberals would argue against any form of state intervention to correct or compensate for disadvantageous outcomes in the free market capitalist system.…”

The Relevance of Criminal Courts in the Global South

“…Although not always evident, neoliberalism has promoted the introduction and the strengthening of the rule of law (Plant 2010). The rule of law is believed to provide legal predictability to social actions, by prescribing clear norms that order social interaction; but more importantly, it establishes clear boundaries for the political power of the state-a crucial requirement for the expansion of market economies.…”

El Dios mortal. ¿Implica la globalización una progresiva desaparición de los Estados?

“…El Mercado libre ("free market") ni ha existido nunca ni tampoco ahora en pleno proceso de mercantilización de nuestras sociedades; el Estado sigue creando, manteniendo y reproduciendo los mercados capitalistas (Reich 2015). Y con ello el neoliberalismo se distancia sin remedio del utópico ideario anarquista conservador del libertarianismo (Plant 2010). Es más, el Estado ha pasado de ser el objetivo de la ofensiva neoliberal a ser el instrumento de esta ofensiva de extensión de los mercados desregulados, de la privatización del sector público y del recorte de los derechos.…”