GS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Capital Accumulation, Neoliberalism
Document Summary
Gs101 lecture 19: privatizing welfare, education, healthcare, pensions, etc. improves the state"s economic competitiveness, each individual is held responsible and accountable for his or her own actions and well- being. Individual failure or success if understood only in terms of entrepreneurial virtues and personal failings, rather than any systematic property: how to fight inflation: 3) deregulation, free mobility of capital between sectors, regions and countries is crucial. All barriers (tariffs, punitive taxation, planning and environmental controls) must be removed. While individuals are supposedly free to choose, they are not allowed to choose strong collective institutions (like trade unions). They absolutely must not choose to form political parties whose aim is to force the state to intervene in the market: in this sense, neoliberalism is explicitly anti-democratic, democracy for a few. Neoliberal theorists are profoundly suspicious of democracy. Governance by majority rule is seen as a potential threat to individual rights and constitutional liberties.
