Constructions of neoliberal hegemony: An ideology critique and critical discourse analysis of neoliberalism in the late 20th century

Abstract

This thesis examines the role of ideas in relation to institutional change. It develops a critical constructivist analysis, drawing on neo-Gramscian political economy perspectives in IR, in order to understand how ideational factors such as beliefs, values and interests intertwine with material factors in order to understand processes of institutional transformation. It argues that ideology and hegemony, concepts sometimes associated with a structuralist position, can be usefully re-invigorated by introducing them into a socio-cultural constructivist analysis. The critical elements of the Marxist/Gramscian legacy and its strong credentials in analysing the development of capitalist social forms and modes of production provide its key contribution. Constructivism on the other hand can act as a corrective to the structuralist tendencies of some historical materialism as well as offering new methods of analysis which emphasize the importance of ideational and cultural factors. Following a discussion of the idealism/materialism and structure/agency dichotomies, the thesis argues that a discourse-historical approach presents a fruitful methodology to interrogate the transformation from Keynesian social democracy to neoliberal deregulation, privatisation and monetarism during the closing decades of the twentieth century. In addition, analysis of how neoliberal discourse represents those agents who oppose or question its fundamental principles and policy prescriptions gives an insight into the way in which a dominant discourse remains dominant in the face of growing evidence to counter its claims.