Violent Neoliberalism

Abstract

Violen t Neoli ber alism D e v e l opm e n t, D i scou r se, a n d D i sp o s se s sion i n Ca m bodi a Simon Spr i nger 10.1057/9781137485335 -Violent Neoliberalism, Simon Springer

COVID-19, Authoritarian Neoliberalism, and Precarious Migrant Work in Singapore: Structural Violence and Communicative Inequality

“…Communicative inequality, inequality in distribution of information and voice infrastructures, is intricately tied to the material inequalities experienced by low-wage migrant workers (Dutta, 2008). The violence of extreme neoliberalism is worked into the various forms of disciplining that work actively to silence the voices of workers (Springer, 2012(Springer, , 2015. The various forms of disciplining the workers experience, from being surveilled to being terminated for speaking up work together to perpetuate a fundamental form of violence ingrained in fear.…”

“…The model of state capitalism explicitly organizes the state not only as a "custodian of capital accumulation" (Tansel, 2017, p. 4), but also as a pivotal player in the processes of extraction and exploitation. The authoritarian state as the primary agent of "neoliberalizing violence" (Springer, 2015) incorporates into its structures mechanisms of surveilling, disciplining and policing the abandoned "other." It thrives on the production and circulation of propaganda that props up its model of economic development, pitched as the "Singapore model" (see Dutta, 2018a,b;Dutta et al, 2019).…”

“…Singapore's authoritarian neoliberalism, as an assemblage of "coercive legal, institutional, and policy processes" (Bruff, 2014, p. 112) to govern by moralizing the individual, family, and community, draws upon a wide array of techniques of surveillance and violence incorporated into everyday life. Springer (2015) theorizes violent neoliberalism, referring to the "the kaleidoscope of violence that is intercalated within neoliberalism's broader rationality of power, " (p. 12) arguing that violence constitutes the deep inequalities produced by neoliberalism and is in turn, constituted by these inequalities. He suggests that this violence is both exceptional, appearing "to fall outside of the rule, usually by being so intense in its manifestation, " and "in a dialectic relationship with exemplary violence, or that violence which constitutes the rule" (p. 2).…”

Singapore’s Extreme Neoliberalism and the COVID Outbreak: Culturally Centering Voices of Low-Wage Migrant Workers

“…Positioning itself as a "custodian of capital accumulation" (Tansel, 2017, p. 4), Singapore's "authoritarian neoliberalism" routinizes repressive tactics of labor management to attract transnational capital. The state disciplines labor through surveillance, policing, and expulsions (see Dutta, 2018a;Dutta et al, 2019;Wham, 2019) as methods for "neoliberalizing violence" (Springer, 2015).…”

Plantation assemblages and spaces of contested development in Sierra Leone and Cambodia

“…82 The process of marketisation and increasing monetarisation contributed to the loss of indigenous identity, increased inter-generational tensions, and led to intra-community frictions and a breakdown of social institutions which is embedded in the broader neoliberal development in contemporary Cambodia. 83 For instance, I witnessed growing infighting about the representation of the affected villages in committees or negotiations with the company.…”