This thesis offers a reflection on Brazilian south-south relations with African lusophones countries, more specifically Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe and Guinea Bissau. It looks for the...Show moreThis thesis offers a reflection on Brazilian south-south relations with African lusophones countries, more specifically Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe and Guinea Bissau. It looks for the theoretical frame in which these relations are enshrined. The reflection is built around the notion institutional liberalism.Show less
The link between international development and gender equality has been highly acknowledged in today’s world. Women and girls are often depicted to be the public faces of global development, and...Show moreThe link between international development and gender equality has been highly acknowledged in today’s world. Women and girls are often depicted to be the public faces of global development, and have been increasingly present in a wide range of business and institutional policies. Businesses and institutions have embraced the notion that women are beneficial for markets and profits. This idea of the economic benefits of capitalizing on female ‘untapped’ labor power is also known as ‘smart economics’. Such neoliberal implementations and legislations illustrate that, instead of mere victims of poverty and violence, women are also capable to be agents. Nonetheless, these supposed advantages are in need of a feminist analysis. Recently, the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set out to implement a gender equality initiative labeled as ‘Womenomics’. This policy is primarily implemented to increase female participation in the workforce. Womenomics is narrowly linked to the expansion of a neoliberal economic policy agenda, which represents market fundamentalism, privatization, and corporate-led development. This thesis will analyze to what extend Japan’s neoliberalism, and its promise for female empowerment affects gender equality in the country. Fundamental to this analysis is the connection between feminism and a neoliberal economic policy like womenomics. The idea of feminism can reveal to what extend it can be utilized to achieve the neoliberal goal of a free and flexible labor market (Schieder 53 – 54). The central question this thesis seeks to answer is: ‘how has feminism influenced Japan’s decision to implement its neoliberal womenomics policy?’. The thesis hypotheses is that while womenomics promotes female (economic) empowerment, the policy disregards historical and structural causes of gender-based inequality and poverty. Moreover, it is reinforcing the (current) neoliberal paradigm, which established and maintained (gender-based) oppression.Show less
This paper has primarily attempted to determine whether neoliberal economic policy is making a return to Brazil, and secondarily what the most likely explanation for this could be. The elections of...Show moreThis paper has primarily attempted to determine whether neoliberal economic policy is making a return to Brazil, and secondarily what the most likely explanation for this could be. The elections of October 2018 provided the context to perform an analysis on this subject: the two candidates competing in the second round of elections, Jair Bolsonaro and Fernando Haddad and their visions on economic policy for Brazil have been analyzed through the method of content analysis. The programas de governo or governing programs of both candidates has served as the main subject of the study. Additionally articles in journals and interviews have been taken into consideration. Neoliberal economic policy in this paper is defined as a specific set of economic policies associated with the Washington Consensus. Although the Washington Consensus contains a total of ten advised economic reforms, the analysis in this paper will focus on specifically three, namely privatization, trade liberalization and austerity. This will be followed by a demonstration of a ‘retreat’ of neoliberal economic policy worldwide at the hand of the trade policies of the Trump administration in the United States and the change of direction made by International Financial Institutions. Thirdly, the political situation of the last years in Brazil will be described in order to provide the reader with the necessary context for the analysis. Fourthly, the turn to neoliberal economic policy under the current Temer administration will be demonstrated to establish that neoliberalism has returned to Brazil, albeit in the form of a government with near to no public support: favorable views of the (neoliberal) reforms among the candidates under study would be a strong indication a continuation of this policy under a new president is likely. This has been researched through the programas de governo, articles and interviews. Lastly, two possible explanations have been considered. The paper will conclude that it is indeed likely that Brazil, now with a candidate enjoying significant public support, will continue on the path of neoliberal economic policy. This return to neoliberal economic policy will be concluded to be due to a form of crisis management in Brazil.Show less
This thesis examines the relationship of neoliberal policies and growing inequality in the Japanese labour market after the bubble burst in early 1990’s. The purpose of this research is to...Show moreThis thesis examines the relationship of neoliberal policies and growing inequality in the Japanese labour market after the bubble burst in early 1990’s. The purpose of this research is to determine whether labour inequality levels have risen as a result of the neoliberal agendas that the government of Japan has adopted over the past few decades. The policies and the agendas of four Prime Ministers will be discussed: Yasuhiro Nakasone (pre-bubble burst), Ryutaro Hashimoto (post-bubble burst and during Asian crisis), Junichiro Koizumi (pre-financial crisis) and Shinzo Abe (post-financial crisis). This research demonstrates that certain aspects of labour inequality have been altered using process tracing in a multi-disciplinary approach consisting of both qualitative and qualitative sources to analyze the outcomes of these policy measures. The theoretical and empirical analysis showcase that, whilst the transformation of the Japanese economic model has not been linear, there is a gradual neoliberal progress in the labour sector reflected by the continuous deregulation schemes that the administrations have chosen to pursue. The Japanese labour institutions and, therefore, the Japanese social contract have been considerably transformed as part of the neoliberal reforms.Show less
The European Union (EU) has often been accused of displaying a neoliberal bias. In the new phase of positive integration, this academic debate has primarily focused on the substantive ideological...Show moreThe European Union (EU) has often been accused of displaying a neoliberal bias. In the new phase of positive integration, this academic debate has primarily focused on the substantive ideological orientation of European policies within the framework of European economic governance. In this regard, some scholars have argued that, based on the intricacies of its practical operation, the process of implementation can have a considerable effect on the final ideological orientation of these EU policies. This thesis aims to build on the existing debate by focusing on the role played by the European Commission in managing the implementation of these EU policies through the so-called Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs). For this purpose, this thesis carries out a qualitative and contextualised in-depth analysis of the process of implementation by conducting a single case study that focuses on employment-related CSRs issued to Spain during the period 2005-2014. The aim is to find patterns in the ideological orientation of CSRs issued by the European Commission that could reveal the existence of a neoliberal bias in European economic governance.Show less
The field of Economics and International Political Economy (IPE) often omits the importance of an idea that shapes an agent’s interests and behaviors, which can be crucial to understanding the...Show moreThe field of Economics and International Political Economy (IPE) often omits the importance of an idea that shapes an agent’s interests and behaviors, which can be crucial to understanding the policy’s decision-making process. This paper argues the power of economic ideas, which, formulated by internal and external affairs, have the capacity to change the institution, also providing the reasoning for certain policy choices. The paper will explore reasons to certain policy measures that happened in two financial crises in the Republic of Korea, by tracking back into the economic ideas of Neoliberalism and Pragmatism that were dominated by the policy makers during the Kim Young Sam and Lee Myung Bak administration.Show less
This thesis examines the crisis policies of the ‘troika’ institutions to Greece in the context of the Eurozone crisis. The neoliberal policies of fiscal austerity and internal devaluation...Show moreThis thesis examines the crisis policies of the ‘troika’ institutions to Greece in the context of the Eurozone crisis. The neoliberal policies of fiscal austerity and internal devaluation prescribed by the troika had a strong contractionary impact which resulted in a prolonged recession of the Greek economy. For this reason, the research question of this study is to what extent the IMF, the EC and the ECB have been questioning the appropriateness of the prescribed crisis policies to Greece. Building on neo-Gramscian theory, the causal mechanism claims that the hegemony of neoliberalism within the troika institutions conditions a specific diagnosis of the Eurozone crisis and hence a specific set of policy responses. Analysing the positions on central dimensions of neoliberalism with regard to financial crises, a striking persistence of neoliberal policies is observed. In light of neo-Gramscian theory, this observation suggests that the first grand systemic crisis of the 21st century has not seen the rise of a challenging counter-hegemonic ideology. It also suggests that the transmittance of ideological change from global to regional economic governance is not necessarily instant. It is thus fundamental to advocate strong alternatives to neoliberalism which could bring the long reign of neoliberalism and international finance to an end.Show less
This thesis applies Isiah Berlin's theory on the inversion of positive liberty to the concept of negative liberty. Negative liberty, the freedom from coercion, has become a monistic doctrine...Show moreThis thesis applies Isiah Berlin's theory on the inversion of positive liberty to the concept of negative liberty. Negative liberty, the freedom from coercion, has become a monistic doctrine through the political philosophy of neo-liberalism. This inversion of negative has led to the forceful promotion of democracy, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. While initial claims of searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were proved false in Iraq, “spreading freedom and democracy” became a dominant part of the discourse. Using process tracing one will argue that, in Iraq, a massive project of social reengineering was attempted. The occupation authorities attempted to reorientate Iraqi society to the values of negative liberty. This engendered huge resistance among the people of Iraq. This led to a postmodern nightmare in Iraq, wherein the occupation forces were torturing, imprisoning, and killing, in the name of freedom from coercion and interference. This thesis argues that the project of democratic revolution in Iraq failed due to a narrow conception of freedom ignoring indigenous demands and culture.Show less
