SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Despite the massive state interventions into financial markets following the crash of 2007, the academic literature on the political-economic theory and practice of neoliberalism – a phenomenon often (mis)identified as equivalent to ‘free market’ fundamentalism or a second wave of laissez-faire – has continued to flourish, rather than decline in the post-crash era. This article discusses three recent books that offer insights into the resilience of neoliberalism in theory and practice. While all three books were published shortly before the onset of the new political crisis in the West, represented by Brexit, Trump and the rise of the far right, it is argued, here, that their analyses of post-crash neoliberalism in theory and practice offer useful clues as to what may lie ahead.