Tracking Neo-Liberalism: Labour Market Policies in the OECD Area

Under conditions of globalization neo-liberal policies are often advanced as the only ones that nation-states can pursue effectively. By embracing the deregulatory logic of the global market, it is argued, nation-states will be better positioned to achieve success than if they cling to outdated notions of state intervention. Thus states should be catalysts in promoting market adaptation. If they act in this way, their citizens will reap the benefits because their societies will be more competitive in the global economy. Arguments of this type are part of public discourse and are employed to promote, justify or legitimate the adoption of neo-liberal policies. To a surprising degree, given the simplicity of the case just advanced, and the widespread failure of neo-liberal policies referred to in the introduction to this book, these propositions continue to play a key role in the development of public policy and in the efforts of international organizations to influence the policies adopted by states. Consequently it is important to continue to interrogate the claims advanced on behalf of neo-liberal policy.