Transcript Core Themes and Concepts: Neoliberalism, Colonialism, and Globalization. July 11

Core Themes and Concepts:
Neoliberalism, Colonialism, and
Globalization.
July 11th 2007
Neoliberalism: A global ideology
• Neoliberalism: A political and
economic ideology that
attempts to improve human
well-being by promoting
individual self-interest; it
advocates for the withdrawal of
government interventions in
the economy (such as tariff
and quotas, but also
government services); it strives
for the free movement of
goods, services, people, and
money.
The Origins of Neoliberalism
• The theoretical
foundations of the
ideology were first
developed by economists
at Chicago, such as
Milton Friedman, and
Austria, such as
Frederick Von Hayek.
• Politically, neoliberalism
became a global force
under Ronald Reagan
(US) and Margaret
Thatcher (UK) around
1980.
The Stated Purpose of
Neoliberalism
• Neoliberal ideology
attempts to improve the
well-being of the earth’s
population.
– How is well-being
measured?
• Increased per capita GDP.
Why is this metric
problematic?
• Utility and increased
consumption. Why is this
problematic?
• Other forms of well-being
that are not examined
under this ideology.
Human Development
Index.
Human Development Index
The Effects of Neoliberalism
• Neoliberal policies have led to
dramatic increases in wealth
accumulation. However, this
increase in wealth has been
highly concentrated.
– Since the late 1970s CEOs
have gone from making 25
times more than their
average employee to 400
times more.
– The income gap between
rich countries and poor
countries has grown
dramatically.
How were neoliberal policies
spread to the developing world?
• The Washington
Consensus:
– The US government
– the World Bank
– the International Monetary
Fund
– World Trade Organization
• Structural Adjustment:
The case of Mexico,
1982.
• Who wins and who
losses?
Colonialism
•
•
European colonialism: “The
practice of taking over the human
and natural resources of often
distant places in order to produce
wealth for Europe” (p. 11)
Colonialism dramatically
transformed the lives and
landscapes of both the colonized
regions and the colonial
metropoles.
– E.g. Black tea plantations and
English tea time.
– European colonialism did not
formally end until the 1970’s
with the decolonization of
Africa.
Colonialism and Imagined
Geographies
• Many of the contemporary political boundaries we see
on the map today are the direct result of political
negotiations and the use of force that occurred during
the colonial era.
– Few of the world’s political boundaries reflect pre-colonial ethnic
and/or cultural groupings.
– The impact of this arbitrary division of the world’s surface into
nation-states continues to be felt today: ethnic conflict,
immigration, nationalist movements, and “terrorism”.
Colonialism and Racism
• Colonial expansion into the
tropical regions of the world
was justified in part by the
“White Man’s Burden”: It was
believed that the wisdom of the
Enlightenment and European
technological superiority was
absent in the tropical regions
of the world. It was therefore
the duty of the European
powers to “save the savages
from their own irrationality and
backwardness”
Colonialism and the global
economy
• Colonies generally served as
sources of raw materials and
natural resources for the
colonial powers.
• Colonial powers had the
technological capability to
transform raw materials into
industrially produced
consumer goods.
• Colonies would export cheap
raw materials and import
expensive industrial goods.
• This pattern of “uneven terms
of trade” continues into the
present day: e.g. chocolate
Globalization
• “The growth of interregional
and worldwide linkages and
the changes they are bringing
about” (GL-4)
• Group exercise:
– What has fostered the
growth of interregional and
worldwide linkages?
– What sorts of changes are
these linkages bringing
about?
– How does neoliberalism
and colonialism contribute
to the process of
globalization?
Next Lecture
• 7/12 South America: Political economic
change and changing environmental
relationships pp. 107-111 pp. 118-125 pp.
127-129pp. 137-143