Examples Of Neoliberalism

Origins and Advocates
Neoliberalism is rooted in transnational scholarship that emerged in response to globalization of the 1970s. Transnationalism, or sociological liberalism, emphasizes the impact of transnational networks between state and non-state actors. Transnationalists such as Rosenau and Burton believe that with increased interaction across borders, military force as a tool of statecraft is replaced by an interdependent human society among pluralistic actors. Neoliberal institutionalists of the 1980s and 1990s, notably Keohane, constituted a state-centric analytical confrontation with the neorealist arguments of Kenneth Waltz in particular. Other examples of Neoliberal institutionalists include Ney, Krasner, and Oye, among others.

International institutions, as either formal organizations (NATO or UN), or as informal regimes (non-proliferation treaty, GATT), play a more important role in determining state relations than do hegemonic state or brute force. Moreover, neoliberalism holds that transnational contacts and interdependence in global issues due to technological advances have transformed the very definition of national interests. Under this view, states are important rational actors who cooperate to achieve absolute gains. Thus, unlike neorealists who characterize states as interested in rational gains, neoliberals characterize states as utility-maximizers, actors who will entertain cooperation so long as it promises absolute gains in their

Methodologically, neoliberalism, like neorealism, relies on positivist inquiries built on rational-actor models to construct theory. Neoliberalism’s reliance on scientific rigor and theory-building beyond trade and war further separates it from classical liberalism. Epistemologically, neoliberalism, like neorealism, is a rationalist theory constructed upon assumptions of microeconomic theory. Neoliberals subscribe to the neorealist state-centric perspective which considers states as rational unitary actors who form social relations to maximize their pre-defined interests in a strategic domain. Both theories treat state interests as exogenous to inter-state interactions, thus seeing no need for a theory of interest