Post-neoliberalism? The strange case of the new English Freeports
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6443707 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Patrick Holden (0000-0002-7742-8107, University of Plymouth, corresponding author), Nichola Harmer (0000-0002-4543-8204, University of Plymouth) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 19-33 |
| Publication date | 2024-08-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1356-3467 • E-ISSN: 1469-9923 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13563467.2024.2373069 |
| OpenAlex | W4401251378 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 26 |
Neoliberalism has lost its hegemonic status in the global system but neoliberal ideas and practices persist. Post-Brexit UK offers a useful case study of how these operate in a post-hegemonic context. The UK government's vision of free trading 'Global Britain' crashed against the reality of an increasingly geoeconomic world. Freeports were an initiative designed to boost trade and to develop poorer regions. This paper adapts Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse how the different Freeport discourses interact with material power as the policy develops. It divides this into three levels: national political discourse, national policy discourse and local political and policy discourse (with a case study of one Freeport). At the national level, the Brexiteers forged a discourse that combined neoliberalism, Brexit discourse and 'levelling up'. When translated to policy this was significantly moderated due to legal commitments and geoeconomic pressures. At the local level, the policy was significantly reframed with little emphasis on trade and more on traditional local development concerns. The contradictions of the initial political discourse opened a space for other actors to reshape the policy. More broadly, this story suggests that global geoeconomic pressures may restrict the role of free trade zones in the developed world
Brexit · Coalition government · Context (archaeology · Critical discourse analysis · Economics · European union · Hegemony · Ideology · International trade · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Economic Zones and Regional Development · Law · Public Administration · Urban Planning and Governance
Discourse and social change
Transforming Cities
Strongholds of Liberalism? The Reaction of Regional Integration Institutions to the Pandemic Trade Crisis
Globalists
Neoliberalism is Dead … Long Live Neoliberalism
The UK ‘geography of discontent’
The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism
Reviving Hayek’s Dream
Neo-liberalism by default? The European Union’s trade and development policy in an era of crisis
The Diversity of Economic Nationalism
Bound by Gravity or Living in a ‘Post Geography Trading World’? Expert Knowledge and Affective Spatial Imaginaries in the Construction of the UK’s Post-Brexit Trade Policy
Neorealism and its critics
The nomos of the freeport
The Wall Street Consensus
From Covid-19 to the End of Neoliberalism
Graduated Sovereignty in South-East Asia
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |