Introduction

From the mid-1970s onwards, neoliberalism has been the most influential political ideology. This influence has been exercised in several ways. In the global North, neoliberal ideas have underpinned the electoral success of politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Following their successes, progressive opposition parties such as New Labour under Tony Blair shaped their policies in response to a new political, economic and social landscape that had been created. In the global South, following neoliberal economic policies became a condition of receiving support from supranational institutions such as the World Bank. Finally, the emerging economies of the post-Soviet bloc followed key elements of neoliberal ideas. Neoliberalism is almost all-pervasive. Harvey's (2007) book A Brief History of Neoliberalism has on its cover, alongside Reagan and Thatcher, pictures of the Chilean military dictator, Pinochet, and the Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping – testament to the reach, influence and flexibility of this political and economic ideology.

Neoliberalism has at its core a belief in the supremacy of the market. Any interventions that prevent the operation of a free market should be resisted. The electoral successes of parties such as the Tories under Thatcher and Republicans under Reagan have meant that there is a danger that these are seen as inevitable (Stedman-Jones, 2012) – inevitable because they were seen to reflect the alleged fact that there was ultimately no alternative to the market. This is certainly the view that was put forward by Thatcher – ‘there is no alternative’ (Young, 2014) – at the time, and by Conservative analysts such as Sandbrook (2013) and Moore (2014). This is part of the mythology of Thatcherism.

Hayek

The Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) is the key thinker in the development of neoliberalism. Hayek wrote the key text in neoliberal political economy, The Road to Serfdom, which was published in 1944. He and his followers never accepted the developments that led to the establishment of institutions of the modern welfare state in the UK, such as the NHS and the expansion of public education. In 1950 Hayek moved from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences to the University of Chicago.