Neo-liberalism can be termed as a resurgence of ideas whose advocates are in the support of economic philosophy, reduction in the spending of the government and free trade. It is used as a tool that will enhance the existence of the private sector in the economy. The usage of the term has changed in the modern day and is used in the referring to different critics by politicians. The well-known use of the word denotes to reforms in the economy that may include the eliminating of price controls, lowering of barriers to trade, deregulating the capital markets and reducing of influence of the state in the economy by the use of fiscal austerity and privatization. The significant burden that the government has tends to move to the private sector and, therefore, there will be minimal use of funds by the government. There only work might be only to oversee and ensure that the private sector conducts their projects as required. The markets and business will improve further if the method is used over the other available options. Some countries have tried the method, and it worked as expected while in others it failed. Several countries are yet to try the method, but it has been under a lot of focus from everyone in the world.
Wendy Brown writes, “As neoliberalism converts every political or social problem into market terms, it converts them to individual problems with market solutions.” The words that used to be the governments are in this case turned to be the issues of the private sectors. This can be viewed as transforming the problems to individuals in the market sector to handle them. The individuals might have the solutions that are required for them to continue with the problems and even be successful. Some private sectors cannot be able to solve the problems living the problems even bigger. It can work out in either way depending on the method taken by the private sector. The private sector makes the solutions in the market, and the government might have less or very few businesses that they control and have a significant impact on the economy of the country. When it comes to marketing then, they still have to follow the trend that has been set by the private sector. This is done for the purposes of balancing trade that is paramount.
There are several problems that are brought about by the use of this method especially politically and economically. One of them is the effect that the globalization will have on the economy. The economy will lose the ability of self-determination when globalization occurs. The government can always make changes when globalization is occurring. This is not possible once the markets are being controlled by the private sector. The private sector will dictate on the path that will be followed when the globalization is occurring. The government will lose the ability of self-determination in the process as they can only give ideas to the situation. Countries that control the markets through the government will be at a greater advantage. The government can also at some have to get profits from the private market which they will not be able to. Once it not able to then it might result in the borrowing of money and increasing the burden of debt. The self-determination of the country will have ended because of the incapability to regulate the market. When the government is not able to do this then, it loses more than expected and might affect the ability of the country negatively.
The government conducts its business openly while the private sector embraces privacy in the doing their business. It sums up to be the second problem that might be encountered when the markets are privatized. The stakeholders in these markets will be at a great disadvantage due to the privacy. The private sector can choose to either share the information with them or not. There will be a lot of stakeholders who would have been left after this. The government can avoid these situations by running the markets themselves. It will prevent the loss of more stakeholders and even attract more. Stakeholders will prefer a business that is done openly rather than private. Therefore using the government systems then they will be able to attract more customers and also protect the state interests.
The other problem that the system has is the exploitation and the promotion of social injustice. After privatizing the markets, there will be the emergence of a group of people who will want to exploit resources. They steal for their benefit as they know that their actions will not be questions by anyone. This exploitation by some people makes the system a very corrupt method. It will lose its relevance to the governmental form in which one is required to be open, and the business is controlled openly. Privatizing will lead to more injustice in the market that will later be blamed on the central markets. Controlling the markets openly is the only method that can reduce the injustice that occurs in businesses. The private sector will opt to run their businesses in private which is the primary source of injustice in business.
According to Wendy Brown, there are political and social consequences that have also been stated by Tiqqun. In every decision that has been made on the neo-liberalism then the country is always subjected to an individual event that might affect the government both positively and negatively. An example is the going to war that is both social and political. Wars against terrorism that have been done by the United States through the same always relate to the deaths of American citizens both in the US and outside the country. This is also the same point that Tiqqun tries to put through by saying that “at the molar scale assumes the current state, is called at the molecular gauge the monetary topic?” All the decisions that are made no matter how small they are will always result in something that has the same source. If its terrorism, then there will be casualties that are Americans due to the same. When a definite decision in the trade is made, it also affects the country’s economy positively.
Tiqqun and Wendy Brown shared the same idea with the knowledge of the intensity of the situation. Neo-liberalism can be good and at the same negative depending on the regulations and the decisions that are being made by the people. These are the majority in the private sector that makes the deals. The government ought to watch the process very carefully to ensure that its people are protected from any harm. They should also ensure that the economy is not affected negatively by decisions made by the private sector. The government should not in any way forget its mandate to safeguard its people (Brown, 690-714).
Tiqqun shows how different entities can be separated so that they can all fit in the society. Through the form-of-life political entities or programs should be taken away from the things that are not political. This is, in the same way that civilians are expected to be taken out of the military because they are not trained to fight. Therefore, anything that is political should be brought back to the political ground else it will not work as it has been expected. Politics should stick to be politics, and they should be separated from all other activities as it might affect them negatively and cause them to fail. Politicians should know their boundaries and keep them in check so that they will in no way try to bring their activities to issues that are not political. This is in the respect to the form-of-life as Tiqqun has noted it. If this is followed, then all the form-of-life will grow to be strong as days go by (Tiqqun).
Neo-liberalism has come under both critics and praise in the recent past years according to how it is being used. Some people are in support while others object it with all sides giving credible reasons for that. The method can be a success and a failure depending on how it is approached and used by the people who choose it. It is also risky to the economy and will require the intervention of the government from time to time for it to work as it is supposed to.
Works Cited
Brown, Wendy. "American Nightmare Neoliberalism, Neoconservatism, and De-Democratization." Political theory 34.6 (2006): 690-714.
Tiqqun and Alexander R. Galloway. Introduction to Civil War. Semiotext, 2010
