‘ACTUALLY EXISTING NEOLIBERALISM’ AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS

Abstract

This article assesses claims that the global economic crisis heralds the end of neoliberalism as the dominant logic of policy-making. It does so by examining three major competing conceptions of neoliberalism—‘neoliberalism as laissez faire’; ‘regulatory capitalism’; and ‘actually existing neoliberalism’—and uses these to identify the core components of the neoliberal shift in state-economy relations. The article then assesses the extent to which the core components of neoliberalism have been eroded in the wake of the global economic crisis, with a specific focus upon Australia, in particular the sphere of industrial relations.