Market Government: Neoliberalism and the transformative power of 1989

Abstract

This chapter seeks to examine the effect of 1989 in one particular corner of liberal political thought and practice: its effect on the history of neoliberalism, specifically in Western Europe. Neoliberalism has become synonymous with the rollback of the welfare state and the erosion of any kind of social policy. The word neoliberalism, although used by its advocates in the past, since the late 1970s has served primarily to criticize the market. The election of Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom and Ronald Reagan in the United States was to inaugurate a new phase in the history of neoliberalism. The Dutch government policy think tank, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), however, shared with the Cato Institute a very deliberate push toward forms of neoliberal market government. The WRR became a key player in translating neoliberal ideological ideas into policy proposals that, because of their consensual and depoliticized tone, suited the complex Dutch multiparty system.