Post-Neoliberalism and the Emergence of Human Rights Politics in International Finance

Abstract

Capitalism is an evolving and adapting form of political economic organization with variations which differ with time and place but which are drawn together by the common threads of private property and the market mechanism. Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony and counterhegemony and Polanyi’s concept of movement and countermovement both point to the dynamic and adaptive character of capitalism (Polanyi 2001). Some recent academic work has also explicitly addressed this adaptive capacity of neoliberal capitalism. For example, Doug Porter and David Craig discuss the emergence of a new phase of “inclusive” neoliberalism (2004: 391), while Jamie Peck and Adam Tickell examine the transition from “roll back” to “roll out” neoliberalism (2002: 384). In their views, neoliberalism has undergone a transformation and is being replaced with an apparently gentler version of its former self. How has this been accomplished? Arguably the battle over the rules and values governing international finance has played an important part in accomplishing this.