A lot of us see neoliberalism, manifested in the rise of market power and the spread of globalism, as a plague on society. It is a plague on democratic society. That purpose was forged almost a century ago in Austria as it emerged from the ashes of WWI. With the end
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The Disaffected Lib: A Primer for a Prime Minister
It’s almost impossible to discern how much our prime minister really understands about globalism and the neoliberal order. He claims he gets it but that’s far from clear. The prime ministerial confusion was manifest in his interview today in The Guardian.It was with some relief that I came upon a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Monbiot Tackles Neoliberalism’s Death Grip on the West
Neoliberalism has been the default operating system of western governments, Canada included, since it was ushered in during the Thatcher/Reagan/Mulroney era. Justin Trudeau is a neoliberal as were his predecessors over the last three decades. Canada remains in the clutches of neoliberalism and no one, no leader, no party is
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Neoliberal Racket
George Monbiot traces the origins of neoliberalism and how to seized control of political and economic thought in the West eventually leading to the election of Donald Trump. At a meeting a few months after Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative party, one of her colleagues, or so the
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Beyond the ‘Republican’ Economy: Hayek and Pettit on Private Property
Republican political theorists have spilled a lot of ink in the attempt to present ‘republicanism’ as a distinctive alternative to liberalism. The landmark book is, of course, Philip Pettit’s Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, published in 1997. I have written about some of the problems of republicanism on
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Competition and the Commercial Spirit
I came across this gem while reading Hayek’s discussion of private monopoly and competition in Law, Legislation and Liberty. Hayek is discussing the relationship between competition and economic rationality, disputing those who argue that economic rationality or the ‘commercial spirit’ needs to exist for competition to work. In contrast, Hayek
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Smith and Hayek on the Labour Market
Over the past few decades, the work of Adam Smith has been enlisted into the neoliberal cause. His casual reference to the ‘invisible hand’ has permeated popular discourse in a way that implies that it is the theoretical cornerstone of his political economy; like a kind of sophisticated doctrine. Indeed,
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Republicanism and wage-labour
In a previous post, I presented a criticism of republicanism’s inability to adequately address the problems of power exerted in the modern capitalist economy. This should come as no surprise really, given that the republican notion of liberty as ‘non-domination’ was articulated within the context of pre-capitalist economies characterized by
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