Neo Liberalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Neo Liberalism - Essay Example There are many problems that it has introduced, but has been unable to provide answers. There had been mixed reactions as some of the happenings had been good and some of them were unpleasant. Dictatorships had been giving way to liberalism and this is definitely a positive step in the right direction. How long it might last, one cannot answer today. There exists another fear that Neo liberalism could widen the gap between the poor and rich. It is felt that World Bank, Inter American Development Bank and International Monetary Fund like powerful monetary institutions have imposed a situation of reducing profit rates felicitating the corporate few who are in bad business ventures, to revive their economic position. "Neo-liberalism is a response to a dual crisis that emerged in the mid-1970s for the ruling class. On the one hand capitalists faced a 'crisis of accumulation' - the capitalist system was stagnating and profits had fallen from the rates achieved immediately after the Second World War. Secondly, a rising tide of workers' struggle in the 1960s and 1970s posed a threat to the political power of the ruling elite" http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.phparticlenumber=9655 It is difficult to guess if Neo liberalism would bring the same future to all cities, or the result would be diverse in accordance with the city. But we can make very clear assumptions that it would definitely make the cities look and feel alike. There is a suggestion that the growth of cities is connected with the growth rate of national economy and most of the economic activities are focussed in the cities. "Indeed by the end of the 1980s the World Bank claimed that over half of all GDP in the greater majority of developing countries could be traced to urban areas", (Allen, 1999, p.248). The link between cities, particularly the cities in the developing countries, is a new one. As there had never been anything sweeping the earth the way globalisation did, it is understandable. No doubt, at one time, Imperialism ruled the world, but compared to the all-pervasive nature of neo-liberalism, effects of Imperialism were remote, and were limited to the particular colonies, even though there was a great impact on world trade and business. It lacked the power and all-grabbing tendencies of today's financial and marketing institutions. "The ideological persuasion exerted increasingly by these and other institutions mirrors the types of influence at work at the level of the global economy" (Allen, p.248). It has made the Governments to take a different view of their cities and attend to all needs of the cities mainly with the intention of fitting them into the global network, so that they could be showcased as their trophies and achievements of Neo liberalism. Some thinkers, economists and sociologists are of the opinion that cities should be limited and their unbridled growth should be curbed. They say this without taking into consideration the importance of cities in history or their current position as significant players economically, socially and politically. Another assumption is that the role of markets and economic institutions and their reforms are compatible with the city life of the inhabitants. Persisting doubt is if macroeconomic policies and regulations would be sufficient for the growth of the cities.