If Neoliberalism Did Not Exist, We Would Have to Invent It
For all the ideology’s faults and blind spots, it changed the world for the better and still offers lessons for the future.
Gone, but not to be forgotten
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America“Neoliberalism” is fast becoming the ideology that dares not speak its name. Thirty years ago, members of the global elite sang lustily from the same neoliberal hymn book: prefer the market to the state, embrace free movement of capital and goods, let business be business. Today, even the International Monetary Fund, the Vatican of the creed, pronounces it passe. On April 27, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan delivered a speech that might well have been titled “the era of neoliberalism is over — and good riddance.”
But is it really good riddance? Would the world have been a better place if the neoliberals had remained in their think tanks rather than entering the halls of power? And will the world be a better place if neoliberalism is killed off? The answer to both questions is an emphatic “no.”