Neoliberalism And Urban Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Neoliberalism And Urban Environment - Essay Example It is characterized by freedom and liberty. In a liberalist perspective, they view such concept as letting the people decide of what they want and without any intervention or influence by others or the government itself. It advocates a free market policy and tries to open the economic possibilities of doing business globally. In such time, great thinkers and even ordinary people are hungry for a development, hungry for another structure that would best cater the interests of the public. People want something new in the system that governs them. As a result of hunger, they in turn had given birth to neoliberalism that until now is a living idea that influences the world, a science that helped and continue to help in shaping the world. Neoliberalism is a set of principles and theories governing economics. These are principles and theories that are widely influenced by Adam Smith. These are theories mostly used in dealing with the problems of developing countries and the relationship in trade and commerce of developed and developing countries. Neoliberalism is greatly linked to Frederick von Hayek's theories of economics, the IMF and departments of economics such as the Economics department of the University of Chicago. Neoliberalism became a central concept to critical researchers in the realm of economics in the 1990's. Neoliberalism, a globally pervasive political project with manifestations at a variety of scales, strives to resurrect the classical economic works of Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, and David Ricardo to name some. The context in which classical economists were working in, the 18th Century is marked with ideals of democracy and citizenship in which the theory of liberalism was sculptured and developed. The western political theory of liberalism sought to free a 'natural' market from the unnatural control of government. Few seem to argue the merits of a democratic society and the role of political and economic freedom. Although democracy has room for improvement and development, it is no longer a movement without precedence that is looking for an eloquent theory to act as agent. Neoliberalism suggests there is something new and different about the goals of contemporary liberalism. It is referred to by some liberalist thinkers as an offspring of liberalism. In general terms, the 'new' of neoliberalism is the idea that there are inevitable external market forces that will require structural change; and that structural change is only applied to select institutionalizations of the state (Peck 2004). This idea is 'new' compared to classical liberalism because neoliberals work to diminish the state to a point of near death, whereas classical liberalists recognized the state as a necessary evil to be looked at with skepticism. And, again in general terms, the difference between neoliberalism and its root liberalist ideals is the contextual embedded ness - different times develop different ideas. And, neoliberals are not necessarily fighting a totalitarian state as their liberalist predecessors had. NEOLIBERALISM PROPONENTS AND VIEWS One of the great thinkers that made his name famous in this field was Frederick von Hayek who founded the Mont Pelerin society in 1947. The main objective of the Mont Pelerin society was to establish a free market which is not in control of the government