Globalists

The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism

By: Quinn Slobodian

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Neoliberals hate the state. Or do they? In the first intellectual history of neoliberal globalism, Quinn Slobodian follows a group of thinkers from the ashes of the Habsburg Empire to the creation of the World Trade Organization to show that neoliberalism emerged less to shrink government and abolish regulations than to redeploy them at a global level.

Slobodian begins in Austria in the 1920s. Empires were dissolving and nationalism, socialism, and democratic self-determination threatened the stability of the global capitalist system. In response, Austrian intellectuals called for a new way of organizing the world. But they and their successors in academia and government, from such famous economists as Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises to influential but lesser-known figures such as Wilhelm Röpke and Michael Heilperin, did not propose a regime of laissez-faire. Rather they used states and global institutions - the League of Nations, the European Court of Justice, the World Trade Organization, and international investment law - to insulate the markets against sovereign states, political change, and turbulent democratic demands for greater equality and social justice.

Far from discarding the regulatory state, neoliberals wanted to harness it to their grand project of protecting capitalism on a global scale. It was a project, Slobodian shows, that changed the world, but that was also undermined time and again by the inequality, relentless change, and social injustice that accompanied it.

©2018 the President and Fellows of Harvard College (P)2018 Tantor

Tracing Neoliberalism to Its European Origins

I’ve been spiraling around this book since late last fall. Daniel Denver (producer of Jacobin’s “The Dig” podcast) interviewed the author last November in a lengthy conversation revolving around the importance of governance, in all of its many forms and the dogmas that come along with them. Around that time Jonathan Levy reviewed Adam Tooze’s “Crashed” in “n+1” in an article that focused on the threat of liquidity. I also read Anand Giridharas’ “Winners Take All” during this time, which speaks to and about the globalist class.

There are many other books, authors, and thinkers relevant to list in this catalog, but I’ll stop there for now. I rattle through this list to help point to the formation of a school of thought that has been forming in the post-2008 period. Although some might call it the anti-globalism movement, it is actually more globalist than the globalists.

In a way, this is a book about neoliberalism. As defined by Slobodian, neoliberalism has three core tenants:
1. Free trade and closed borders (racism)
2. Minimization of quantification
3. Weak states and encased markets

Common belief appears to hold that neoliberalism is an ideology born out of the United States in the second half of the 20th century. In “Globalists,” Slobodian traces this history back to the first half of the 20th century in Europe. This could be called the Geneva school. It was an intellectualism defined by free trade but strong borders that has endured to our present moment. Along these lines, it is worth calling out that there are two branches of neoliberalism regarding borders: the racists and the non-racists. The first might be called the nationalist branch, or white-supremicist branch, while the second could be called the libertarian branch.

It came as a surprise to me that, in its evolution, neoliberalism has eschewed quantification. Having recently read “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” by Shoshona Zuboff and “Punished by Rewards” by Alfie Kohn—both books about behaviorism—this came as a bit of a surprise to me. Slobodian pits the neoliberals against the likes of Dana Meadows and the Club of Rome report on the “Limits to Growth.” Their rhetoric revolves around a statement that economies are so vast and complex as to render any form of quantification meaningless. This is at odds with the co-emergent field of cybernetics. In this segment, Slobodian explores the work of F. A. Hayek, including the systems theory that he helped to develop.

Also contrary to popular belief, neoliberalism is not about laissez-faire in the literal sense of “unbridled markets.” Rather, these are encased markets. How can we constitutionally restrict the reach of the state to interfere with the functions of the global economy? This is the epitome of a neoliberal question.

If you’re looking for the cliff notes, turn to page 271 in the conclusion, where Slobodian outlines his fifteen points of neoliberalism.

Slobodian is clearly writing from the left side of the aisle; in that regard, this is an investigation of his opponents. That said, I’m not sure that I can distill a thesis of this book. Maybe this makes it all the more academic, in that Slobodian’s biases are under the surface as opposed to front-and-center.

As I work in the field of cryptocurrency, I’m particularly interested in considering what all of this means for the crypto-sphere. Other authors have given this question some thought, such as David Golombia in his “The Politics of Bitcoin.” When considering the frontiers of economic and governance design, what paradigms are we inheriting?

Profoundly tedious book, somnolent reader

Boy, was I fooled by the Audible.com reviews on this item. I heard this book recommended by Zach Carter on the Ezra Klein podcast. Carter wrote the wonderful recent Keynes bio, Price of Peace. On his recommendation, I bought Globalists. I am not an economist or intellectual historian. Author Slobodian writes in complexly structured sentences that would be hard to follow even on the written page. Reader Barrett blazes through the text while communicating no meaning. I tried to listen at 3/4 speed, but then it didn't flow.
The subject matter is highly arcane, and seems to be arguing with intensity small points. When I look at the Publisher's summary, I have to admit the book does support its hypothesis, assuming the facts are correct. But the hypothesis seems to be of minimal consequence to me. If the book also told interesting stories or related worthwhile fact, I could forgive it. But this audiobook simply turns into a painful slog, like the most boring lecture you can imagine. I only finished the book so that this website would permit me to write a review and warn away other readers. For me, the book was a very unpleasant waste of hours of my life.

A modern economic history of Globalism

First read it, then listened to audio version. For me this was the definite book on Globalism, neoliberalism, and a particularly relevant strain for the European reader, ordoliberalism. First conjured to shore the privileged of falling multinational Habsburg empire, then matured with international institutions of the post-war period, eventually challenged by decolonization, it now appears decidedly opposed by a resurgent digized Demos.

excellent

excellent information-rich high level synthesis. don't skip the last chapter. useful background for people who like to read news about this stuff.

Great narration

I'm halfway through, and although the information seems to be very valuable so far, I mainly wanted to point out that the narrator does a great job. Even and measured but still very natural.

Pedantic

Tedious and repetitive. Important topic that never really came to life. Core messages could have been more effectively delivered in half the time.

Neoliberalism

If you want to hear that word 12 times a minute for 11 hours read this book. absolute Rubbish.

Gets there in the end

Listening to this along with ‘Masters of the Universe’ should give listeners a good insight into the thinking and agitations of leading neo-liberal thinkers.

Like MotU, it begins in an equivocal tone, which I found disconcerting, as the gaps in neo-liberal thinking are seemingly glossed over. By the end, however, the respective authors have outlined the shortcomings and and hypocrisies within neo-liberal thinking and their humane concerns come through in objective ways.

This book shows the fringe aspect of neo-liberalism - both in its marginalised perspective and its detachment from history or serious empirical evidence. That has translated into a fringe position in active terms - transnational rather than international, working around or between nationalisms rather than with either party. Global thinking with a fraudulent claim to uphold some biased and bounded notion of ‘individual freedom’. Depending on national economies and currency exchanges without wanting to be hampered by those nations’ governmental principles.

These books and Thomas Piketty’s massive forensic counterpunches should prove the haymakers to finally silence these zealots, but a self-serving ideology will always appeal to those whose outlook has been cynical.

This book was not written for me.

I struggled to finish this book. I feel no benefit from this experience sorry.

superb overview of neoliberalism

The author presents a detailed history and explanation of Neoliberalism as we know it today. it is well researched and non-judgemebtal.