Governing information infrastructures and services in telecommunications

Purpose – Telecommunications comprises a vital component of information infrastructures and services, with a historically strong public interest dimension. For the best part of 30 years, the telecommunications sector in Europe has been the subject of a radical reorganisation in structural and operational terms along the lines of neo-liberalism. This paper aims to analyse the significance of the neo-liberal project in telecommunications in respect of the related dimensions of ideology and practice. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a public policy critique of the manifestation of neo-liberalism in the telecommunications sector in the European Union, employing desk-based research on relevant primary and secondary source documentation. Findings – The paper finds that proponents of neo-liberalism have been able to secure the broad acceptance of neo-liberalism as a “view of the world” for telecommunications. It shows that in practice, however, the neo-liberal model in telecommunications provides evidence of a less than efficacious adoption process in three respects: neo-liberalism requires an elaborately managed system the regulatory burden of which has been under-emphasised; the normative success of neo-liberalism has masked how difficult it has actually proven to be to create competition; the preoccupation with markets and competition has resulted in de-emphasis of public interest issues in telecommunications. Originality/value – This paper contributes up-to-date knowledge of the nature and effects of neo-liberalism in the European telecommunication sector. It provides a challenge and counterweight to the “received wisdom” that neo-liberalism has been an overwhelmingly successful approach to the re-ordering of European telecommunications

Michel Foucault's the Birth of Biopolitics and contemporary neo-liberalism debates

Neo-liberalism has become one of the boom concepts of our time. From its original reference point as a descriptor of the economics of the ‘Chicago School’ or authors such as Friedrich von Hayek, neo-liberalism has become an all-purpose concept, explanatory device and basis for social critique. This presentation evaluates Michel Foucault’s 1978–79 lectures, published as The Birth of Biopolitics, to consider how he used the term neo-liberalism, and how this equates with its current uses in critical social and cultural theory. It will be argued that Foucault did not understand neo-liberalism as a dominant ideology in these lectures, but rather as marking a point of inflection in the historical evolution of liberal political philosophies of government. It will also be argued that his interpretation of neo-liberalism was more nuanced and more comparative than more recent contributions. The article points towards an attempt to theorize comparative historical models of liberal capitalism

Pervasiveness and efficacy in regulatory governance – neo-liberalism as ideology and practice in European telecommunications reorganisation

Telecommunications provides one of the most well-developed examples of the growth of neo-liberalism. The sector is interesting since the contrast between its pre neoliberal and post neo-liberal characteristics is particularly stark. This paper explores the impacts of neo-liberalism in European telecommunications, placing particular focus on the EU institutional context. It considers the conseqences of neo-liberalism as ideology, on the one hand, and practice, on the other. It finds that, ideologically, neoliberalism has become deeply pervasive in European telecommunications and for its advocates can be regarded as a highly successful project spanning almost 30 years. In terms of practice, the paper argues that the pursuit of neo-liberalism has been less successful. In particular, competition has proven complex and difficult to create and there are concerns over the ability of the neo-liberal model to provide sufficient investment to deliver new Next Generation Networks. However, these deficiencies tend to be under-played due to the ideological and rhetorical success of the neo-liberal project in telecommunications.

The cultural politics of human rights and neoliberalism

Do human rights offer the potential to challenge neo-liberalism? I argue that rather than understanding human rights as ideology, as obscuring or legitimating neo-liberalism, it is more productive to see both human rights and neo-liberalism as hegemonic projects. In this article I explore convergences and divergences between dominant discourses and practices of human rights and neo-liberalism around key ideas ‘the state’, ‘the individual’ and ‘the nation’, to clear a space for appreciation of the cultural politics of human rights: divergences in constructions of responsibility and hierarchies of value of concrete individuals offer openings for challenging ideas and practices of neo-liberalism through campaigns for human rights

Now is the time! Confronting neo-liberalism in early childhood

© The Author(s) 2021. Over the last 30 years, neo-liberalism has permeated early childhood, as all other aspects of life. Having introduced what neo-liberalism is, the article looks at some of its effects on early childhood education and care, including markets, imaginaries and governance. It argues that though neo-liberalism is a powerful force, it is resistible and replaceable – and that now is the time to be developing alternatives to existing policies, grounding them in ideas that contest neo-liberalism

Neo-liberalism, consequences on the prospect of democratization in Latin America

The present paper aims to analyze the consequences of neo-liberalism on the prospect of democratization in Latin America, by concentrating on two case-studies, Brazil and Chile. The analysis is done on a double level. In a first part it considers the consequences of neo-liberalism on the first dimension of the infra-State level, the State itself and the government. In a second part it moves to the analysis of the second dimension of the infra-State level, the society. This double level of evaluation highlights the deficiency of an efficacious political democratization at the level of the State and the lack of the application of civil rights at the level of society. The neo-liberal context has accentuated democratic lacunas, because it has been ineffective in providing monitoring capacities in the field of democratic norms and institutional implementation.Neo-liberalism; Latin America; Democratization; Democratic deconsolidation; Depolitization; Public sphere

Critiques of Liberal and Neo-Liberal Arguments in Africa: More Emphasis in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review

Economic liberalism which was founded by Adam Smith is the base for the former liberalism ideology. Through time the present neo-liberalism and capitalist economic system evolved within the liberalism ideology of promoting private ownership of properties and free market for economic development. In this review article, we present the arguments and critiques of liberal and neo-liberal theories to African development more emphasis in Ethiopia. Either in the liberal or neo liberal ideologies believes that government is the second actor on the economy and the market can operate by itself. But for Africa these ideologies are not working because, in Africa still there is not well structure political and economic system. In addition, the market is not still institutionalized enough and there is slow development of infrastructures. Africa cou ntries should contextualize the liberalism and neo liberalism model of development with the prevailing institutional, social, cultural and political history that every country had internally. Keywords: Liberalism; Neo-liberalism; Argument; critiques; Africa; Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-13-05 Publication date:July 31st 202

A European social model of state-market relations: the ethics of competition from a neo-liberal perspective

In this paper I portray "neo-liberalism" in its original conceptual meaning as opposed to the generic term of depreciation as which it is commonly used. I identify fair competition and the denial of all privilege as the major concerns of original neo-liberals. Ethical merit for competition might, at first sight, be based on only two principles: individual natural rights (equal liberty) and socially desirable outcomes ("unintended altruism"). It was the neo-liberal idea to put fairness-norms or universally applicable rules of just behaviour between an unqualified "input-based" ethics and an unqualified "output-based" ethical consequentialism. The enforcement of such rules is a major obligation of the state. Today, the European Union assumes the role of "guardian" of competition. In a certain, but limited sense, neoliberalism, correctly understood, can be argued to be the one founding "European Social Model". However, beyond the realm of common, universalisable interests, competition amongst social-political models seems a preferable option for Europe. --Neo-liberalism,Ordo-liberalism,European Social Models,Ethics of Competition

Liberalism, Neo-Liberalism and Urban Governance: A State Theoretical Perspective.

This paper discusses the recurrence and the recurrent limitations of liberalism as a general discourse, strategy, and regime. It then establishes a continuum of neoliberalism ranging from a project for radical system transformation from state socialism to market capitalism, through a basic regime shift within capitalism, to more limited policy adjustments intended to maintain another type of accumulation regime and its mode of regulation. These last two forms of neoliberalism are then related to a broader typology of approaches to the restructuring, rescaling, and reordering of accumulation and regulation in advanced capitalist societies: neoliberalism, neocorporatism, neostatism, and neocommunitarianism. These arguments are illustrated in the final part of the paper through a critique of the World Report on the Urban Future 21 (World Commission 2000), both as an explicit attempt to promote flanking and supporting measures to sustain the neoliberal project on the urban scale and as an implicit attempt to naturalize that project on a global scale