After neoliberalization?

Abstract

Against the background of debates on the origins and implications of the global economic crisis of 2008-2009, this essay presents a theoretical framework for analyzing processes of regulatory restructuring under contemporary capitalism. The analysis is framed around the concept of neoliberalization, which we view as a keyword for understanding the regulatory transformations of our time. We begin with a series of definitional clarifications that underpin our conceptualization of neoliberalization as a variegated, geographically uneven and path-dependent process. On this basis, we distinguish three dimensions of neoliberalization processes – regulatory experimentation; inter-jurisdictional policy transfer; and the formation of transnational rule-regimes. Such distinctions form the basis for a schematic periodization of how neoliberalization processes have been entrenched at various spatial scales and extended across the world economy since the 1980s. They also generate an analytical perspective from which to explore several scenarios for counter-neoliberalizing forms of regulatory restructuring.