Neo-Liberal Ideology from its Origin to the present – A Retrospective

12€

18 July 2011 by Eric Toussaint

In the prevailing context of the ever-deepening crisis of neo-liberalism, the monograph « Neo-Liberal Ideology from its Origin to the present – A Retrospective » provides a deeper insight into the historical roots of the crisis of neo-liberalism. And provides a penetrating analysis of the evolution and the ascendency of neo-liberal ideology which according to the author is primarily a capitalist vision of the world, engineered to meet the capitalist accumulation strategy of the late 20th and early 21st century.

Eric Toussaint with a Doctorate in Political Science, is the President of CADTM-Belgium (Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt) and a fellow and frequent lecturer at the International Institute of Research and Education, Amsterdam. He is the author of The World Bank World Bank
WB The World Bank was founded as part of the new international monetary system set up at Bretton Woods in 1944. Its capital is provided by member states’ contributions and loans on the international money markets. It financed public and private projects in Third World and East European countries.

It consists of several closely associated institutions, among which :

1. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, 189 members in 2017), which provides loans in productive sectors such as farming or energy ;

2. The International Development Association (IDA, 159 members in 1997), which provides less advanced countries with long-term loans (35-40 years) at very low interest (1%) ;

3. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which provides both loan and equity finance for business ventures in developing countries.

As Third World Debt gets worse, the World Bank (along with the IMF) tends to adopt a macro-economic perspective. For instance, it enforces adjustment policies that are intended to balance heavily indebted countries’ payments. The World Bank advises those countries that have to undergo the IMF’s therapy on such matters as how to reduce budget deficits, round up savings, enduce foreign investors to settle within their borders, or free prices and exchange rates.

 – A never ending coup d’etat (2007), Your Money (or) Our Life – The Tyranny of Global Finance (2005), co-author of Tsunami Aid or Debt Cancellation (2005), The Debt Scam – IMF IMF
International Monetary Fund Along with the World Bank, the IMF was founded on the day the Bretton Woods Agreements were signed. Its first mission was to support the new system of standard exchange rates.

When the Bretton Wood fixed rates system came to an end in 1971, the main function of the IMF became that of being both policeman and fireman for global capital: it acts as policeman when it enforces its Structural Adjustment Policies and as fireman when it steps in to help out governments in risk of defaulting on debt repayments.

As for the World Bank, a weighted voting system operates: depending on the amount paid as contribution by each member state. 85% of the votes is required to modify the IMF Charter (which means that the USA with 17,68% % of the votes has a de facto veto on any change).

The institution is dominated by five countries: the United States (16,74%), Japan (6,23%), Germany (5,81%), France (4,29%) and the UK (4,29%).
The other 183 member countries are divided into groups led by one country. The most important one (6,57% of the votes) is led by Belgium. The least important group of countries (1,55% of the votes) is led by Gabon and brings together African countries.

http://imf.org , World Bank and Thirdl World Debt (2003), Globalisation : ’Reality, Resistance and Alternatives’ (2004), Le Bateau Ivre de la Mondialisation. Voyage au sein du village planétaire (2005), Cuba : Le pas suspendu de la révolution (2001), Bank of the South – An Alternative to IMF-World Bank (2007), A Diagnosis of Emerging Global Crisis and Alternatives (2009), 60 Questions on the IMF-World Bank and the Debt Scam (2009).

Published by Vikas Adhyayan Kendra

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Author
Eric Toussaint

is a historian and political scientist who completed his Ph.D. at the universities of Paris VIII and Liège, is the spokesperson of the CADTM International, and sits on the Scientific Council of ATTAC France.
He is the author of Greece 2015: there was an alternative. London: Resistance Books / IIRE / CADTM, 2020 , Debt System (Haymarket books, Chicago, 2019), Bankocracy (2015); The Life and Crimes of an Exemplary Man (2014); Glance in the Rear View Mirror. Neoliberal Ideology From its Origins to the Present, Haymarket books, Chicago, 2012, etc.
See his bibliography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89ric_Toussaint
He co-authored World debt figures 2015 with Pierre Gottiniaux, Daniel Munevar and Antonio Sanabria (2015); and with Damien Millet Debt, the IMF, and the World Bank: Sixty Questions, Sixty Answers, Monthly Review Books, New York, 2010. He was the scientific coordinator of the Greek Truth Commission on Public Debt from April 2015 to November 2015.


Other articles in english by Eric Toussaint (617)

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Other publications in English :

  • China’s Overseas Investment in the Belt and Road Era
    4 May - Globalization Monitor
  • Africa : the debt trap and how to get out of it
    27 March - CADTM
  • A century of debt crises in Latin America : from independence to the Great Depression, 1820-1930
    24 January 2022 - Carlos Marichal
  • Greece 2015: There was an alternative
    6 October 2020 - Eric Toussaint
  • Impact of European policies on the Global South and possible alternatives
    8 September 2020 - ReCommons Europe

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