Neoliberalism: From New Liberal Philosophy to Anti-Liberal Slogan

In recent years, neoliberalism has become an academic catchphrase. Yet, in contrast to other prominent social science concepts such as democracy, the meaning and proper usage of neoliberalism curiously have elicited little scholarly debate. Based on a content analysis of 148 journal articles published from 1990 to 2004, we document three potentially problematic aspects of neoliberalism’s use: the term is often undefined; it is employed unevenly across ideological divides; and it is used to characterize an excessively broad variety of phenomena. To explain these characteristics, we trace the genesis and evolution of the term neoliberalism throughout several decades of political economy debates. We show that neoliberalism has undergone a striking transformation, from a positive label coined by the German Freiberg School to denote a moderate renovation of classical liberalism, to a normatively negative term associated with radical economic reforms in Pinochet’s Chile. We then present an extension of W. B. Gallie’s framework for analyzing essentially contested concepts to explain why the meaning of neoliberalism is so rarely debated, in contrast to other normatively and politically charged social science terms. We conclude by proposing several ways that the term can regain substantive meaning as a “new liberalism” and be transformed into a more useful analytic tool.

Jordan Gans-MorseEmail:

---

Taylor C. Boas   is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation examines changes in the strategies and techniques of presidential election campaigns in Latin America over the past several decades. His research has appeared in Journal of Theoretical Politics, Latin American Research Review, and Studies in Comparative International Development. Jordan Gans-Morse   is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on various political economy issues in postcommunist and Latin American countries, including property rights, the politics of economic transition, and welfare state development. His work has appeared in Comparative Political Studies and Post-Soviet Affairs.