Neoliberalism

Neoliberal policies promote market forces and commercial activity as the most efficient methods for producing and supplying goods and services. At the same time, they also turn away from the role of the state and discourage government intervention into economic, financial and even social affairs. Economic globalization is a process driven by this ideology; removing borders and barriers between nations so that market forces can drive the global economy. Governments around the world have adopted these policies and still continue to pervade classical economic thought, allowing corporations and affluent countries to secure their financial advantage within the world economy. Countries that adopt these beliefs believe that by expanding the free-market and private ownership would create a greater economic efficiency and social well-being. It is by this deregulation, privatization and removal of borders and restrictions that corporate activity has the ability to expand. Corporations are able to grow rapidly in size as well as influence, and have the ability to become the most productive economic units worldwide. It is a belief by neoclassical economists, political and the financial elite that in most countries, neoliberal policies will create global prosperity. These beliefs are so entrenched that this view determines the policies of international agencies, such as the IMF, World Bank and WTO, thus dictating the functioning of the global economy. Despite reservations from within many UN agencies, neoliberal policies are accepted by most development agencies throughout the world to be the most likely means of reducing poverty and inequality in the poorest regions. However, Patomlakit and Teivainen provide so called ‘exceptions’ to this ideology, stating that some countries throughout the world lack modern technology, such as internet or proper means of transportation and therefore cannot be classified as a privatized sector. Nations with the lack of these means are excluded from neo-liberalistic beliefs.