The Concept of Neoliberalism - Essay Example

?Neoliberalism is an ideology according to which the nations and s are concerned about the absolute goals rather than the relative goals with respect to other nations. The concept of neoliberalism is based on the fact that the nations and states are interested in the institutions through which cooperation between states can be established based on mutual and common interests through cooperation and compromises. This ideology is actually a response to the contemporary realism or neorealism which establishes the anarchic nature of the international system and considers the states of the world to be working for their own benefits. Neoliberalism does not reject the anarchic nature of the international politics and international relations but considers the possibilities of cooperation and a decentralized system through which various states can achieve their national goals and objectives. Both the system considers the state as the primary unit of analysis and the analysis is based on the absolute and relative goals of a state (Cafruney & Ryner, 2003). Neoliberalism is actually a theoretical approach to the study of institutions also described as neoliberal institutionalism. This ideological concept was developed in the mid 1980’s as a reaction to the dominance of the neorealist theory. The followers of neoliberalism strongly believe that international cooperation is possible and is very important for the progress of states in the international scenario. Neoliberalism lays foundation of the ideology on the concepts from neorealism according to which the states are rational, unitary actors which look to maximize their utility in an anarchic international system. Neoliberalism does not totally deny the concepts presented in the realist approach and there is an agreement on the fact that the absence of a sovereign authority in the international scenario is the reason behind conflict between various states, it also argues that these issues can be resolved through institutions and regimes which can help in linking issues, monitoring behavior and enhancing the importance of reputation. The problem arises when the powerful states influences institutions and shape their decisions according to their own interests and these states do not follow the decisions made by the international institutions and international bodies when they are against their interests and restrict them from carrying out certain economic or strategic operations. States are the principal actors in the world politics and they use international organizations to create social orders which can be helpful in achieving shared goals and objectives. These cooperative processes and operations include the production of collective goods, collaborating for regional peace and security concerns and establishing effective communication between states to achieve collective goals. The institutional and regime control represents a major progress in the understanding of international and regional cooperation but in these institutions and regimes have failed to establish their effective role and existence in the modern scenario of international relations. The most important achievement of the regime theory and the institutional approach is the analysis of power dynamics and power distribution in the international politics but this also act as a negative point against neoliberalism when it fails to justify the misconduct on part of the powerful states in the international politics when they suppress the interests of smaller states (Atasoy, 2009). In a purely ideal and proper neoliberal model of international politics the states are supposed to establish a cooperation and interaction between themselves on the basis of reciprocity but the actual scenario is far from being ideal in which the power states use the smaller states for their own interests and exploit their resources and materials without giving them the due share in the benefits and development achieved on the basis of the resources of these smaller states. Such an approach by the international strong states such as USA, UK and Russia is very common and is frequently practiced. In such a scenario of world politics and international relations the smaller states deem themselves to be considered as colonies by the larger states and they feel their resources and powers are being exploited by the larger states for their own interest. This situation is very similar to the situation of the colonial period in which these powerful states used to control the smaller states directly and the continued abuse of power and exploitation of resources resulted in the rise of nationalism and independence of various different states. The neoliberal model in the current time which supports the capitalist system of economic progress is also based on the same colonial theory and has thus given rise to nationalism in various different states of the world (Hdiz, 2006). Considering such a situation the people of the smaller states consider themselves to be insecure and there is a general nationalist perception against these powerful states. Another reason behind the resurgence nationalism in various different countries is the fact that the governments of the smaller states, in most of the cases, have adopted the neoliberal model because of international pressure while the general public does not support it. This creates feelings of distrust among the general public of a state towards the government who start considering the government as a puppet in the hands of strong actors in the international relations and politics. Such a scenario takes neoliberal theology closer to colonialism if an analysis of the efficacy of both the models is done because both are yielding same type of condition and situation for the general public of the smaller states; therefore under such circumstances the resurgence of nationalism to protect the fundamental rights of the people is inevitable. While nationalism is considered as a political ideology which involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms based on common cultural, historical, economic and social interests. Nationalism is a theory which has long been serving to secure and safeguard the interests of the people of a country because nationalism is gives the right of an autonomous and independent state to a nation in which all the economic, social, political and cultural decisions will be based on the aspirations of the people of the state. In the analysis of neoliberal model and its effects on the resurgence of nationalism, nationalism is purely related to a state in which people with different cultural or ethnic background can form one single nation if they are living inside a common international boundary and they share certain national resources with each other (Smith, 2010). Nationalism gives prime importance to the state and the believers and followers of nationalism believe that the interests of their own state are superior to the interests of all other states (Harris, 2009). Such a belief is totally antagonistic to the basic ideology of neoliberal model in which the various states of the world should strive for common interests and objectives. The various nationalist movements of the past started because of the injustices committed by the colonial powers and the leaders of those nationalist movements motivated the masses by making them aware about those injustices and telling them that their lives can become a lot better if they are autonomous and independent in their decisions. What we have seen in the current neoliberal model which has been devised to support the capitalist ideology that the rights of the smaller states are again being suppressed and they are suffering for the benefit of a few larger states. The neoliberal model was actually devised to eradicate the situation of wars and conflicts from the international scenario but it has actually given rise to another conflicting situation because of the irresponsible behavior of the stronger states in their use of the international organizations. For example the United States is said to have a very strong influence on the United Nations, with many smaller states criticizing the existence of the United Nations headquarters in the United States when the US is involved in most of the international conflicts in the world (Navarro, 2007). Under the neoliberal model of international politics, the international organizations like the UN are supposed to guide and help the countries and states in establishing a cooperation based on common goals and interests but the UN is so evidently favoring the US interests in various instances of cooperation established between the US and a single or a group of smaller states. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States has emerged to be the sole superpower of the world with dominant military, economic, social and political power. The United Nations was not designed for such a scenario therefore the smaller states that used to look towards the UN to resolve their conflicts in international socio-economic politics have lost belief in the international institutions because of the increasing US influence on them. As a result the states are moving towards nationalism and want to establish themselves in the nations of the world as stronger states that are totally independent in their resources which in turn give them independence in their decisions regarding the world politics (Adams, 1992). There is an evident conflict between the US and UN member states and the institutions and socio-political bodies of the UN have failed to achieve reconciliation between the two because most of the UN member states consider the UN to be safeguarding the US interests. Under such a situation various other international organizations have become stronger than the UN with regards to the trust of the smaller states on the efficacy of resolving international conflicts while being neutral e.g. OIC, EU, SAARC and ASEAN (Chopra, 2008). But these organizations also do not serve and hold the basic ideology of neoliberal model of international politics because the basis of formation of these organizations is either very close to religious or cultural nationalism or some country stronger other than the US have the same type of influence in these organizations as the US have on the UN e.g. Indian influence in SAARC and ASEAN whereas the organizations like the OIC are totally based on religious nationalism, the Islamic nationalism in the case of the OIC (Roy & Willet, 2007). In such a situation the resurgence of nationalism is the only way in which the smaller states can safeguard their interests and can achieve their socio-economic goals through development. The importance and the powers that the neoliberal model gives to the international organizations are also criticized by various states because of the incidents like the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in which the UN legitimized the US aggression without a detailed analysis of the situation and its aftermath, there is no doubt that these states were a threat to international security but the fact that no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq challenges the legitimacy of the decision. Therefore the neoliberal hegemony can very rightly be considered as a reason for the resurgence of nationalism in various regions of the world because of the neoliberal model is considered to be devised for safeguarding the interests of the strong states in the international politics. Moreover the smaller states consider nationalism to be the only way in which they can own their resources and utilize them for their own development independently. The insecurity of interests in the neoliberal model of international relations is the most important factor in encouraging the smaller states to move towards nationalism. With the advancement in information technology media and means of communication, the common people have more awareness about their interests and goals and the ways in which they can safeguard them and that is why the resurgence of nationalism has become a very frequent phenomena in the modern world. Neoliberal hegemony is a factor behind the resurgence of nationalism in various regions of the world however it does not mean that the neoliberal model has totally been discarded because nationalism can still incorporate the neoliberal model into itself by establishing collaboration and cooperation between states based on the absolute interests, which is a characteristic of the neoliberal model. Cooperation between states based on nationalism has the advantage that it does not give the larger states any chance to suppress the rights and interests of the smaller states by manipulating the socio-political ideologies as done in the neoliberal model. References Hadiz V. R. (2006), Empire and Neoliberalism in Asia, Taylor and Francis. Harvey D. (2007), A brief history of Neoliberalism, London: Oxford University Press. Chopra R. (2008), Technology and Nationalism in India: cultural negotiations from colonialism, Cambria Press. Adams F. (1992), From Economic Nationalism to neo-liberalism: a comparative analysis, Latin American Study Program, Cornell University. Harris E. (2009), Nationalism: Theories and Cases, Edingburgh University Press. Spencer P., Wollman H. (2002), Nationalism: a critical introduction, Sage. Smith A. D. (2010), Nationalism, Polity Torres C. A. (2009), Education and Neoliberal Globalization, Taylor and Francis. Rapley J. 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