ABSTRACT

Mainstream analysis of market mechanism and critical analysis of contemporary capitalism occupy opposite sides of the ideological spectrum. Yet they converge in their assessment that markets and states are undergoing re-organization. The free-marketers refer to this re-organization as “market reforms”—a process of liberating (liberalizing) the market from the shackles of an intrusive Keynesian state (in Anglo America) (Brenner and Theodore 2002; Peck and Tickell 2002; Leitner et al. 2007; Peet 2007), or a democratic socialist state (in large parts of the Third World). Those on the left of the ideological spectrum, refer to this re-organization as “neoliberalism”—new and more virulent form of old-style classical and neoclassical liberalism of the nineteenth century, which calls for a rollback of the state as a mechanism for redistribution, relinquishing control over society to the invisible hand (Peet et al. 2003). The critics of neoliberalism argue that relinquishing state power in favor of the market aggravates vulnerability and inequality at all scales, between classes, communities, and nations, in the short as well as in the long run. The problem lies not merely in the nature, pacing, and manner of implementation of (neo)liberalization, but rather liberalization itself is problematic.