Neo-Liberal Criminologists Demand Freedom From Oppression

Let’s be honest with ourselves: liberalism is the ideology that won. It now towers over the decaying corpses of socialism and conservatism, the master of all it surveys. It has established a global hegemony in the field of political economy. All of our politicians, it seems, are fully signed up advocates of the global free market. Certainly, there are few willing to speak in opposition to the dominance of global finance capital. We see the dominance of economic liberalism most clearly when we look at what has become of SYRIZA in Greece. Even those who enter office with a clear democratic mandate and a desire to curb the power of the market find it impossible to withstand its power and influence. The continued victory of economic liberalism has transformed our political life. In Britain, our system of electoral democracy is a shadow of its former self. When the main political parties agree on all but the fine details, the choice that lies at the heart of the democratic ideal loses its power and meaning. The situation in the United States is no better. What we have must continue. No alternative economic model exists in the field of politics to inspire a common desire for change. It is true that the rise of Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders threatens to upset free market universalism, but we should not assume that the neo-liberal consensus is about to come to an end.

Democracy · Free market · Hegemony · Ideology · Liberalism · Opposition (politics) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law