David Harvey's Theory Of Neoliberalism

As the current dominant form of economic theory in the world, neoliberalism which advocates free trade with minimal government regulation, has been praised by its supporters as the surest means to generate prosperity and freedom for all. Yet, as the gap between the rich and poor continues expanding at a staggering rate at both national and international levels, economic theorists who dispute the benefits of neoliberalism are gaining attention. One such theorist, David Harvey, claims that neoliberalism is “redistributive rather than generative” (2007, p.34), and the redistribution is that of wealth from the lower class to the upper elites as a means for them to remain at the peak of the social strata. Harvey’s theory suggests that the driving

He posits that the main safeguard of the ruling class is their ability to transfer wealth from the lower strata of society to the upper through use of redistribution strategies. Drawing from a list of accumulation practices identified by Karl Marx, Harvey (2007) isolates four principles that he believes are inherent in neoliberalism. (1.) The privatization of what once were publicly held assets, such as public utilities, social welfare, public education, warfare, even the land itself (p.35). (2.) Financialization, describes the rise of massive banks and predatory lending practices which keeps the lower class in debt and beholden to them, while the stock system allows the elites to participate in risky investment and speculative endeavors at the expense of shareholders and corporate dependents. (3.) Through crisis management and manipulation of interest rates the ruling elites are able to acquire capital (land, resources both natural and human, real estate) at bottom price. (4.) State redistribution of both publicly held assets and of policy focus into the hands of the elite. The governing body provides favorable treatment for neoliberal aspirations in all three branches; judicial (arbitration), legislative (deregulation laws), and executive (oppression of the lower

Marks in his narrative The Origins of the Modern World, and Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker’s The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors slaves, commoners, and the hidden history of the revolutionary Atlantic. These histories both include length discussion on the factors behind the rise of the British Empire and the massive redistributions of wealth and power that occurred during that time. In order to compare the events with the theory of accumulation by dispossession this paper will use the four above mentioned neoliberalist principles that Harvey