ABSTRACT
One of the most pervasive myths that influential scholars, politicians, and mass media personnel perpetuate in society today is the theoretical view that present-day globalization, in the form of neoliberal economic and political reforms, cause market capitalism and democracy to be restored or developed in post-colonial authoritarian states. Economic reform is the mechanism for the implementation of the political project of neoliberal democratization. In various countries, neoliberal reforms have merged working people’s struggle for bottom-up people’s participatory democracy with the global capitalist strategy of neoliberal democratization. The broad goals of the Economic Recovery Program are to bring about the recovery of the country’s economy, and to lay the foundation for its self-sustained growth and development. A review of the economic and social data reveals that the conditions of working people have worsened despite the fact that the economy experienced reasonable growth.
