David Neilson

Abstract

This article brings in the concept of the ‘neoliberal model of development’ as a corrective to the prevailing emphasis in the literature that usefully describes neoliberalism as a nationally diverging phenomenon but does not adequately examine the mid-range trans-national/global regulatory connection or the logics of national convergence. By extending the concept of regulation and specifying the national trans-national connection, this article revises the original Parisian French Regulation School conception of a ‘model of development’ and makes it applicable to the contemporary neoliberal era. It then applies this revised conception to help explain contemporary patterns of national convergence and divergence. In particular, with reference to Marx’s theory of the ‘relative surplus population’, this article explores capitalism’s uneven development as a form of national variation intensified by the neoliberal model of development. This revisionist analysis of model of development also demonstrates how its praxis dimension is significant for explaining past and present mid-range variations of capitalism, and more importantly for making a mid-range counter-hegemonic future.

Keywords

Model of development, neoliberalism, regulation theory, relative surplus population, uneven development

From: Capital & Class 2020 44 (1)

Editor: Wang Yi