Abstract
The 2008 global economic crisis paved the way for the construction of a new, elitedriven, capitalcentric, shrunken welfare state project founded on ideology disguised as pragmatism and objective ‘truths’. Today, welfare states exist in a context in which a new politics of austerity sets the parameters of the debate. Austerity incorporates the neoliberal desire to shrink the (social welfare) state, deregulate labour markets and emphasise private markets as the drivers of growth, enabling a reconfiguration of the interests of capital, the needs of people and the role of the state. The new politics of austerity looks like a ‘dream come true’ for neoliberals. Or is it? There is also a powerful counternarrative that suggests that the global crisis exposed the fundamental weaknesses and limitations of neoliberalism and forced policy makers to question core principles and change direction. Focusing on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), perhaps the preeminent global neoliberal interlocutor, and using quantitative textual analysis, the article locates some evidence of movement, but little to suggest that the fundamental assumptions of neoliberalism have been displaced.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 461-481 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Critical Social Policy |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 29 Mar 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2018 |
Bibliographical note
© The Author(s) 2018. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for detailsKeywords
- austerity
- IMF
- neoliberalism
- welfare states
