ABSTRACT
Neoliberalism was already on the defensive after the 2008 global financial crisis, but it managed to outlast the oath of revelation at that time. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a new challenge to the neoliberal competitive state. It can no longer deliver on the promise of continued economic growth, the burden of the pandemic is unevenly distributed and significant government intervention is needed to contain the pandemic and its consequences. COVID-19 could therefore have a collateral benefit: the end of the hegemony of the neoliberal paradigm, which has either instrumentalised or marginalised the state and public institutions since the 1980s. Zooming in on the sectoral level, we also show that the pandemic did at least temporarily shatter some of neoliberalism’s most dearly held assumptions in the field of global health cooperation, such as market allocation and intellectual property rights. It is, however, not yet possible to speak of a paradigm shift at the system level, because the counter-models still aren’t fully fleshed out. Eventually, neoliberalism may quietly cease to be, simply overcome by a more effective system based on solidarity and joint ownership that is better able to cope with the most pressing crises of our times.
