Waging the War of Ideas

Blundell, John

doi:10.2139/ssrn.677403

Cited by 11 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…In the chapter, Salles-Djelic presents the historical dynamics of emergence of this dense ecology of neoliberal think tanks. Salles-Djelic explores the role of Atlas, that was created to 'litter the world' with free-market think tanks (Blundell 2001) with a particular interest for the process through which the organizational form of the 'neoliberal think tank' came to be constructed, diffused and progressively institutionalized during that period. Unpacking potent -albeit subtle and indirect -mechanisms of influence that have largely been neglected in the literature Salles-Djelic contributes to the understanding of the relationship between business and politics.…”

Section: Outline Of Chaptersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: political affairs in the global domain

Garsten

Sörbom

2017

Power, Policy and Profit

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These questions are addressed throughout the book by way of illustrative cases demonstrating the various ways in which corporations pursue political activities in the broad sense and how they aim to influence policy. One by one and taken together the chapters present an understanding of how corporate governance is pursued and with what types of consequences. Corporate ascendancy has emerged as a universal organizing principle in the contemporary world. Corporations, and their funded offsprings, appear as both heroes and villains in tales of political and policy change. Proponents often present them as the 'new', responsible kind of corporate actors that global politics need, building networks across national borders and contributing to multi-stakeholders' solutions to complex issues. Sceptics view them as cunning organizations, barely masking their financial interests behind a thin layer of social and political concern. Both camps, however, would not deny the fact that corporate influence in what was usually seen as a nation-state domain of political affairs, have gained tremendous leverage over the last few decades. Through vast ideological shifts in the late twentieth century, markets rather than governments came to be seen as the more effective governance and the road to prosperity. Governments came to seek out the managerial expertise, technology and investment resources that corporations can bring. The corporate social responsibility movement (CSR) expresses this contemporary and double image of the corporation, as both a potentially accountable 'corporate

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Section: Outline Of Chaptersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: political affairs in the global domain

Garsten

Sörbom

2017

Power, Policy and Profit

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“…At times this overwhelming consensus intimidated us, and we sometimes held back. We often felt like mischievous, naughty little boys" (quoted in Blundell 2007Blundell [2001: 20). Since then, of course, things have changed.…”

Section: Neoliberalism and The Problem Of The Third Waysmentioning

confidence: 99%

What's Left of Leftism?

Mudge¹

2011

Social Science History

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A novel brand of laissez-faire that lay outside the political mainstream in the early postwar years was broadly hailed at the dawn of the twenty-first century as the common sense of a global age. Yet how to understand neoliberalism as a specifically political thing, especially in the unlikely terrains of Western European and leftist politics, is unclear. This article mobilizes field theory to conceptualize and investigate neoliberal politics in Western democracies, treating the left-right axis as a variable but fundamental organizing dichotomy over which mainstream political parties exert a unique definitional influence. To trace how this dichotomy has shifted over time, I develop a novel index of political neoliberalism using data on the electoral programs of mainstream parties across 22 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries between 1945 and 2004. I find that between the 1970s and 2004 a revised political center emerged, featuring a new concept of state responsibility and the means by which it should govern: a historical shift that took root across the left-right spectrum among mainstream parties and that was as much in evidence in Continental, Nordic, and southern countries as in Anglo-liberal countries. The overall trend can be fairly characterized as the rise of a specifically neoliberal politics. I suggest that a full explanation requires both a political sociology and a sociology of knowledge, attending to the organizational and cultural bases of Western party systems.

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“…In waging the war of ideas (Blundell, 2007) the task is clear. The objective must be to create in Britain, and for the first time ever, a genuine market in healthcare.…”

Section: The Coming Tyranny Of the Therapeutic Statementioning

confidence: 99%

Rise of the Therapeutic State: New Challenges for Twenty‐first‐century Medicine

Evans

2008

Economic Affairs

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In recent history, the politics of health has drifted inexorably towards a paradigm in which it is the responsibility of the state rather than of individuals to manage their health. What were once considered private health matters for individuals are now attributed with society-wide importance. This has given rise to a strident 'therapeutic state' which pays obsessive interest in its citizens' eating, drinking, smoking, exercise and sexual habits. However, many of the therapeutic state's own recommendations are poorly evidenced and doctrinaire. The lack of accountability and adverse incentives which creeping state intrusiveness brings will ultimately disconnect the health system from the needs of citizens and treat their personal information with inexcusable carelessness.

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Waging the War of Ideas

Cited by 11 publications

References 2 publications

Introduction: political affairs in the global domain

Introduction: political affairs in the global domain

What's Left of Leftism?

Rise of the Therapeutic State: New Challenges for Twenty‐first‐century Medicine

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