Thursday, December 10, 2009

Neoliberalism

According to Patomaki and Teivainen, globalization has been closely referenced with transnational Neoliberalism, which states that globalization of the world economy will soon bring together the world in a harmonious way of economics. Neoliberalistic policies were soon implemented, which stated that growth was to be acquired with the implementing of privatization and economization of social life; in short the policies were implemented to transfer some of the publically owned control of the economy to a private sector. However, the authors bring up a logical point within this ideology: many countries that are living impoverishly haven't the means of internet, telephones, or transportation to areas that are defined as privatized. This excludes several countries from the idea of Neoliberalism due to the insufficient means that many countries have. The authors also argue that some of the wealthy may be excluded fromt this ideology as well, due to the fear of crime and violence in several areas that may be considered in this defintion of Neoliberalism.
The authors sum up that the countries that have taken on a Neoliberalistic trend of economic living have seen a strengthening in "the position of the economic elites of these countries," but absolute proverty has consequently increased and the living standards have worsened. This process only furthers several societal classes.
I don't know much on this subject of neoliberalism (if you can tell by my blog hah), however after reading this I formulatted that many aspects of Neoliberalism may not be the best for several countries, however the aspect of privitization can be beneficial to some aspects of American living. America is the number one country in number of incarcerations, which is costing American tax payers something around 27.5 billion dollars, and I know that the privitization of prisons would in fact decrease the amount that tax payers are paying, and also increase the efficieny of the prisons themselves. This may have nothing to do with this topic, but I thought it was interesting and I really had nothing else to say on the subject of Neoliberalism.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with many of your points. However some sectors (such as penal systems) simply cannot be privatized. We saw how that worked out with "police organizations" such as Blackwater and the APPF. I would also say that neoliberalisation will only be truly effective when adopted by the rest of the world.

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