Map My Politics

NEOLIBERALISM – The Free Market Ideology

Neoliberalism is one of the seven semi-mainstream political ideologies on the Map My Politics ideology chart, occupying the area to the right of the conservative zone. Neoliberals emphasize economic freedom above all else and are therefore the most “right-wing” in terms of the conventional left-right spectrum. Because neoliberals are less focused on social freedom, the ideology spans a considerable range on the second axis of personal liberty.

Regarding economic liberty, however, there is no doubt that neoliberals fully embrace the virtues of the free enterprise system. They are the ultimate champions of free markets, predisposed to unregulated trade, and are in fact even more laissez-faire than libertarians, their ideological cousins and Map My Politics chart neighbors. Neoliberalism takes it as an article of faith that pure, unrestricted capitalism creates more individual wealth than any other economic system, and that a global free flow of goods, capital – and even labor – will prove vastly superior for the general commonwealth as well. For that reason, neoliberals tend to favor an open-borders approach to immigration, often a point of contention with conservatives, populists and neoconservatives.

Regarding the y-axis of social liberty, neoliberals are generally supportive of the classical liberal freedoms of speech, press and religion that mainstream ideologies like conservatism, centrism and liberalism favor. As noted above, however, neoliberalism is chiefly focused on economic freedom, so there is a wide range of belief among neoliberals about how involved the state should be in family and personal matters. It is perhaps overstating things to say that neoliberals don’t really care all that much about issues of personal freedom, but it’s likewise true that their deepest passions lie elsewhere – in the free market. What typically distinguishes neoliberalism from libertarianism is the relative emphasis on economic vs. personal freedom. In simplistic terms, a libertarian motorcyclist, for example, is adamant that the government not require the wearing of a helmet, while the neoliberal motorcyclist is steadfast in wanting to purchase a coveted foreign motorcycle with no import duties or registration fees. Meanwhile, the neoconservative motorcyclist wants to make sure there is a thriving domestic motorcycle industry in order to supply the military in wartime.

As with libertarianism, the roots of neoliberalism can be traced to Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke and Adam Smith. But as the name suggests, neoliberalism is a newer, more modern ideology that arose in reaction to prevailing Keynesian economic thinking in the middle part of the twentieth century. Perhaps the most prominent exponent of neoliberalism was Milton Friedman, the American Nobel Prize-winning economist associated with the “Chicago School” and, later, Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Friedman’s ideas concerning monetary policy, taxation, privatization and deregulation heavily influenced government policies, especially during the 1980s, both domestically and abroad.

Because the United States is – for the most part – a two-party system, neoliberals are most often found in the Republican Party, the traditional party of smaller government. As with certain dissatisfied libertarians, however, some neoliberals have made the leap and abandoned the GOP in favor of the Libertarian Party. But whether a neoliberal chooses to associate with an established political party or votes independently, a strong tendency to support laissez-faire economic policies will predominate. As we stress repeatedly on the Map My Politics site, politics at its most fundamental level is about ideology.

Prominent American neoliberal Republican politicians have included Jack Kemp and Paul Ryan, and neoliberalism even lays claim to Ronald Reagan, even though he is probably better understood – as with Margaret Thatcher in the UK – as a conservative with neoconservative and neoliberal leanings. As we’ve seen, however, ideology transcends party, and neoliberalism is equally important for influencing post-New Deal Democratic presidents such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, enabling the party of FDR to shift from an ideologically liberal orientation towards a more centrist one. Apart from Friedman, important neoliberal thinkers and writers have included Friedrich Hayek, Charles Peters and Thomas Sowell.

For further reading about the neoliberal ideology, click here.

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