Th e Neo l i b eral Ch al l en g e What is Neoliberalism? Dag Einar Thorsen [email protected] Department of Political Science University of Oslo Working paper October 10, 2009 To the reader: This paper is a revised version of the article “Kva er nyliberalisme?” / “What is Neoliberalism?” – which was written and published in Norwegian in 2007. The English version has since been circulated as a working paper in several different versions. It is my intention to use this paper for two different purposes. Firstly, it will become part of my doctoral thesis, which is scheduled for completion and submission in July 2010. Secondly, I plan to publish i t as a separate article in English. The text contains a few cross-references to the rest of my forthcoming doctoral thesis. These cross-references should be ignored at this occasion. All kinds of comments are welcome at this still early stage. Table of contents: INTRODUCTION ................................................ ................................................................... ............. 2 LIBERALISM ................................................................................................... .................................... 4 NEOLIBERALISM: CONCEPTUAL HISTORY AND DEFINITIONS ........................................ 8 NEOLIBERALISM – IS IT A USEFUL CONCEPT? .................................................................... 17 DO WE LIVE IN ‘THE AGE OF NEOLIBERALI SM’? .............................................................. . 19 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... ...................... 21