💡 Main Question

“What is neoliberalism?”

Although often heard, neoliberalism is rarely clearly defined. It isn’t simply tax cuts and deregulation — it's a comprehensive ideology, economic model, and political project that reshaped the world since the 1980s.

📜 Historical Background

• Post-WWII Europe saw a rise in social democracy, partly to placate powerful socialist movements and the influence of the USSR.
• Social democracy offered:
  • Welfare
  • Public healthcare
  • Worker protections
• BUT it was funded via imperialism and exploitation of the Global South — not inherently anti-capitalist.

🚨 Crisis of the 1970s

• 1974–75 and 1980–82: Capitalism hits a wall
  • High inflation
  • Low growth
  • Unemployment
  • Falling profitability
• Ruling elites abandon the compromise of social democracy
• Enter: Neoliberalism

🧾 Definition of Neoliberalism

A set of economic and political policies used to run a capitalist state, aimed at reversing worker protections, welfare gains, and public services — all under the guise of promoting “free markets.”

Key policies include:

• Union busting
• Wage stagnation / lowered real wages
• Privatization of education, healthcare, housing