A Brief History of Neoliberalism | 
| Author: David Harvey
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 11079
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 254
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0199283273
Dewey Decimal Number: 320
EAN: 9780199283279
ASIN: 0199283273
Publication Date: January 18, 2007
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Product Description
Neoliberalism--the doctrine that market exchange is an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action--has become dominant in both thought and practice throughout much of the world since 1970 or so. Writing for a wide audience, David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism and The Condition of Postmodernity, here tells the political-economic story of where neoliberalization came from and how it proliferated on the world stage. Through critical engagement with this history, he constructs a framework, not only for analyzing the political and economic dangers that now surround us, but also for assessing the prospects for the more socially just alternatives being advocated by many oppositional movements.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Another superb book from David Harvey June 21, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm going to do something here that I rarely do: attempt a short review. There are many excellent reviews of this fine book that I don't need to add much except to say that I agree with the bulk of them. I believe that neoliberal ideas have caused incalculable harm over the course of the last several decades. There are signs of increasingly wide discontent and distrust of the kinds of economic prognostications put forward by people like Milton Friedman, Ronald Reagan (admittedly not a great economic thinker, but unquestionably the great popularizer of neoliberal ideas), and their ilk, seen in part by the great commercial success (and surprisingly popular reception) of books like Naomi Klein's THE SHOCK DOCTRINE. Increasingly, people are coming to understand that what is best for General Motors just might not be the best thing for the rest of the world. But there is little doubt that neoliberal and libertarian thinking (and yes, I do not think there are important distinctions between the two -- the best thing I've read lately about libertarianism came from the superb SF novel by Kim Stanley Robinson, GREEN MARS -- one of his characters thinks to himself, "That's libertarians for you -- anarchists who want police protection from their slaves") will continue to confuse thinking about economic and political ideas. But as those ideas have increasingly resulted in nothing more nor less than a shifting of wealth into the hands of a very small number of people, that vastly larger number of people (even in the United States, where economic inequality has been increasingly dramatically since 1979 -- neoliberal ideas were actually first embraced by Jimmy Carter, though with nothing like the religious fervor of Ronald Reagan), have started to realize that all "trickle down" economic policies are a massive con job.
Harvey in this book wants to present the history of neoliberal thinking. "Neoliberal" as a term is in common usage in many parts of the world, but not in the United States. "Neoliberalism" is not a left wing but is a right wing position. The two most famous neoliberal political figures were Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Harvey's book is a marvelous recounting of that history and an accurate chronicler of the frequently devastating effects of neoliberal, free market principles. In particular, he writes of the catastrophic effects neoliberal principles have had through their forced acceptance in many non-European countries.
I find very little to differ with in this book, but I would make two distinct recommendations. First, if you want to read a book by David Harvey, there are three others that I would perhaps recommend more strongly than this. If you have any interest in the postmodern debate, his THE CONDITION OF POSTMODERNITY is one of the 3 or 4 greatest works in the field. Next, if you are interested in globalization, I would recommend THE NEW IMPERIALISM, which overlaps a good deal with THE HISTORY OF NEOLIBERALISM. Also, one of Harvey's earlier works, THE LIMITS OF CAPITAL, though a bit more challenging, is one of the best contemporary works extending Marxist (not Communist -- Harvey is both anti-Communist and a Marxist) ideas into a contemporary intellectual framework. So, my first recommendation is to look at those three books. My second is to look at Naomi Klein's THE SHOCK DOCTRINE for a more popular, entertaining exploration of much of the same territory as this book. She may lack some of Harvey's sophistication, but she surpasses him as a communicator.
 Good Review of Neoliberalism in the US February 18, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
A good review of the development of neoliberal ideology in public opinion, government policies and global relationships
Neoliberalism is Libertarianism;it is directly opposed to A Smith's approach February 7, 2008
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
Harvey(H) has written an interesting book that ,unfortunately,confuses neoliberalism(libertarianism)with conservatism.This erroneous view is at center stage in the book whenever Adam Smith's name shows up in the discussions.H is badly mistaken when he claims that Smith's view was that "...the hidden hand of the market was the best device for mobilizing even the basest of human instincts..."(Harvey,p.20)such as greed.Smith's view was heavily qualified- in many cases such an approach would work but in other cases it would not work.For instance, consider the myth spread by the economics profession that Smith was opposed to tariffs.Smith was opposed to protective tariffs only.He favored revenue tariffs and retaliatory tariffs if there was any probability greater than 0 that such retaliation would result in the offending country removing the impediment to free trade.He would completely reject the neoliberal approach(IMF,WB,WTO) to the removal of protective tariffs,which was to end them as quickly as possible.Smith's policy is the exact opposite.Such tariffs are to be removed in very slow steps and in a careful manner so as not to create a problem of severe unemployment,which is exactly what has happened in practically ever country that has had to ask for the financial "help" of the Neoliberals.
It is not true that the Adam Smith Institute(Harvey,p.57) in New York supports the approach laid out by Smith in BOTH The Theory of Moral Sentiments(TMS,6th edition,1790) or the Wealth of Nations(WN,1776).The Adam Smith Institute is a libertarian organization whose members have no idea about what Smith said,either in theory or in practice(applied policy).
Finally,Neoliberalism is a failure by the standards of freedom contained in BOTH TMS and WN,and not just in TMS(Harvey,p.185).There is absolutely no conflict between the standards of freedom laid out in the best version of TMS, which was the sixth edition,and the WN.
Smith was the first to realize that there was a dark side(severe externality) to the combined operation of the Invisible Hand and the division of labor process.He spent 7 pages [Modern Library(Cannan)edition,pp.734-741)]pointing out that only the government ,by providing free,universal education to all, if necessary,could remedy this undepletable externality that could destroy the capabilities of the working and middle classes.
Harvey can earn 5 stars from me once he revises the coverage of Adam Smith so that it reflects what it was Smith actually said and recommended as policy and not what some economist ,who only knows how to manipulate a bivariate or multivariate version of the normal probability distribution,claims that Smith said or meant.
Basic to understanding current politics November 27, 2007
This is a very rich book. The subject, neoliberalism, must be understood if we are to understand current politics. Harvey's other books--those I have in mind being THE NEW IMPERALIASM, LIMITS TO CAPITAL, THE CONDITION OF POSTMODERNITY--are equally illuminating. What I write here, I admit, does not constitute a review of the book, neither summarizing its contents or approach, nor offering any criticisms; it is merely an assurance that your study of this book (which I am on my second reading of after having read the first two of the books above-mentioned along with Naomi Klein's uncannily brilliant THE SHOCK DOCTRINE) will give you a good grounding in the matter he treats of: neoliberalism, "its origins, rise, and implications," and will give you a sharper and quicker sense of current national and world politics. Harvey possesses the three qualities of an academic writer that justify, almost demand, studying his work on a subject of this importance: he masters the materially relevant data (i.e., he is a genuine scholar), he thinks well, and he writes well.
Entertaining... But Argument Not Supported by Evidence Cited July 8, 2007
6 out of 14 found this review helpful
The traditional left, in its attempts to run for cover once the edifice of Marxism collapsed, found succour in many ideologies that seemed to explain power imbalance in economic and social relationships. Many of these "new ideas" such as Post-Structuralism and Foucaultian-based power theory, seem to offer a dope-laced understanding of the world and make very specific economic assertions about the world.
The central theme of this book, that economic power is being reconstituted in upper classes to a degree not seen since the 1930s, is a worthy and interesting idea. In fact the raw data indicates that more and more wealth, in percentage terms, is being concentrated into fewer and fewer hands -- especially since the breakdown of the postwar concensus and the demise of the welfare state. This being an economic statement should not be all that hard to prove. How this happens and why, and if the benefit is unjust, or disabling to certain notions of economic justice, Harvey offers little in terms of empirical facts.
Although David Harvey writes well, his evidence is a thin gruel of a single source study by those sympathetic to his cause, and also some sources far too generally cited to actually explain how and what is happening in economic terms. As such the house that Harvey builds is not one that I would like to live in. I found that I was constantly wanting him to prove his point, but could find no economic basis in his book to either explain this drain of wealth or to support his assertions of who and what institutions were making it possible. Instead there was only the strident and oft-repeated boot-strap ideologies each one trying to pick the other off the ground, but none being supported well enough to justify the explanation - in that sense it is similar to Marxism -- and endless series of conjecture with not attempt to look at alternative beliefs and certainly violating the principle of falsifiability.
In addition, there is also a deep suspicion on my part of any theory that attempts to foist a single theory to explain the actions of leaders as diverse as Deng Xiao Ping, Maggie Thatcher, Pinochet, Reagan -- indeed Swedish Socialist governments reconstituting new free market "reforms" is also seen as a direct result of Neoliberalism!!! It raises a critical question of what exactly isn't Neoliberalism?
Having said that, this book is a good read and does encapsulate the current accepted academic dogma of what Neoliberalism in fact describes. Harvey writes well, and undoubtedly the concentration of capital needs to be explained. It is however within the realm of economics that such assertions are proved. Harvey has a lot more work to do to prove his assertion.
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