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Neoliberal reformers: Economics as class warfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Braham Dabscheck
Braham Dabscheck*
Affiliation:
The University of Melbourne, Australia
*
Braham Dabscheck, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia. Email: bdabsche@bigpond.net.au
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Abstract

This review article discusses MacLean’s study of the ideas of a group of economists and their embracing by an oligarchy of business groups to implement a Neoliberal agenda and its implications for American democracy. It mainly focuses on the Nobel Prize winning economist James McGill Buchanan and the industrialist Charles Koch. Business groups provided funds to Buchanan and others to train right-minded people in the precepts of Neoliberalism, established think tanks and institutes to disseminate their views, and ‘directed’ and/or provided advice and draft legislation for Republican politicians at both the state and federal level. Inspiration for how to achieve this Neoliberal ‘revolution’ can be found in Lenin’s 1902 What is to be Done?. The Neoliberal attack on government and statism is consistent with Orwell’s notion of doublethink. It constitutes a weakening of those parts of the state which are inimical to the interests of a wealthy oligarchy, the federal government and agencies/government departments who are viewed as imposing costs (taxes) on and interfering with (regulating) the actions of the oligarchy, and strengthening other parts such as state governments, the judiciary, at both the state (especially) and federal level and police forces to protect and advance their interests.

Keywords

B10B22Charles KochdespotismdoublethinkfreedomgovernmentJames BuchananNeoliberalismpoliticsslaverythe marketthe statethink tanksVladimir Lenin
Type
Review Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 29 , Issue 2: Symposium: Wage Theft and Minimum Labour Standards Enforcement Part 2 , June 2018 , pp. 250 - 262
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2018

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