ABSTRACT
At present, the most common understanding of neoliberalism highlights the reduced state influence on the economy, particularly through privatization and austerity measures. Paradoxically, however, in order to fix the shortcomings in achieving social justice produced by neoliberalism, the state often has to step in with renewed socio-economic policies which in turn increase state intervention and control in both the political and economic spheres. The discrepancy between a ‘liberal’ and a ‘non-liberal’ state has thus become very ambiguous. This chapter analyses the current convictions and contradictions of neoliberalism through ‘actually existing neoliberalism[s]’ as conceptualized by Brenner and Theodore (2002). More specifically, it explores neoliberalism’s variegated and hybrid character in various geographical settings to show its relations with authoritarianism. Such analysis can help avoid crude definitions of neoliberalism and more carefully explore and compare the context-specific ‘neoliberal’ regulatory experiments. It would also allow us to better comprehend the nature of various counter-movements around the world, launched thus far against the perceived neoliberal order. All this can eventually enable us to imagine a global alternative to actually existing neoliberalism/s.
