Neoliberalism Was a Counterrevolution Against Democracy
A group of 20th-century intellectuals saw the democratic nation-state as a threat to private property. Their solution: shifting power to unaccountable international bodies like the WTO, helping pave the way to what we now call “neoliberalism.”
Friedrich Hayek, photographed in 1960. (Bettmann / Getty Images)
The neoliberal era is often characterized as one of deregulation, of the unfettering or freeing of market forces that had been reined in, or “embedded,” during the postwar decades. In his book Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism, historian Quinn Slobodian argues against this understanding of neoliberalism. Instead, Slobodian claims, the neoliberal turn was about “encasing” or protecting markets from democratic control and establishing an international order that ensured capital’s ability to flow freely across borders.
Daniel Denvir interviewed Slobodian about his book for the Jacobin Radio podcast The Dig. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Daniel Denvir
In his review of your book, Adam Tooze wrote “neoliberalism has many histories. Milton Friedman, the Chicago School, Pinochet, Thatcher and Reagan’s market revolution, IMF structural adjustment, and shock therapy transition programs for the post-communist states are all fixtures in the narrative of the neoliberal turn.”
Quinn Slobodian
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.