Histories of Neoliberalism

Catalog description

The class introduces students to the growing historical and historically-minded literature on neoliberalism, querying the origins of the phenomenon, its regional variants, and the methodological challenges of studying an ongoing phenomenon as a complex historical process. The readings and discussion assess the virtues of the three major approaches to the phenomenon. First, a group of scholars have sought to provide a multi-causal historical explanation of neoliberalism, linking its emergence to transformations in the order of global capitalism, particularly the rise of finance capital and the expansion of extractive economies. Second, other scholars have emphasized the key role played by ideational shifts, especially the movement of once marginal economic theories forged in the 1930s into new prominence in the 1970s. A third group of scholars approach neoliberalism as a new political rationality, manifest in techniques of governance. We will assess these different interpretative approaches both on their own terms and in relation to specific regions of the world economy.