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The Neo-Liberal City Primer
Neo-liberal City
Neoliberalism is a term often used and misused. It describes the dominant economic ideology both in the UK and globally, an ideology centred around the values of unregulated trade and markets. It is embedded in the global financial system, imposed and regulated by powerful financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Neoliberalism has its roots in the 19th century 'Manchester School' of economics. The Manchester School argued for free trade and radical laissez-faire economics. In economic terms, ‘liberal’ means ‘free’ in the sense of no controls - free enterprise, free trade, and free competition. The economic liberalism of the 19th century fell out of favour following the Great Depression, when governments adopted Keynesian ideas of state intervention such as the American New Deal to increase employment. But the capitalist crisis of the mid 1970s, with its shrinking profit rates, inspired the corporate elite to revive theories of economic liberalism - hence neoliberalism. In Britain the term came to be synonymous with Thatcherism and more recently Blairism, New Labour having made market-led reform of public services into the cornerstone of its ‘modernising’ agenda.
Underlying neoliberalism are the ideas that economic growth benefits everyone in society, that free markets are the most efficient and socially beneficial way of allocating resources, that the private sector is more efficient than the public sector and that the benefits of this sytem will trickle down to the poor. However, in practice neoliberal policies have been shown to benefit the rich proportionately more than the poor, leading to spiralling inequalities. The more ‘advanced’ economies such as the USA and UK have the highest levels of economic inequality in the world. Since 1997, inequality in the UK has worsened, and evidence shows that poor physical health is a result, not just of poverty, but of inequality itself.
Unable to implement its radical agenda, the council under Labour leader Graham Stringer surrendered to neoliberal, entrepreneurial policies. Stringer turned to private finance to solve the city’s problems and began to work hand in hand with business. The idealistic council slogan of “Defending Jobs, Improving Services” became the vague ‘feel good’ of “Making it happen”. In the late 1980s the Central Manchester Development Corporation undertook urban regeneration schemes in the city centre that forged partnerships between the public and private sector. Bids for the Olympics and Commonwealth Games meant competition with rival cities and the old alliances between northern socialist municipalities were dismantled.
Manchester began to actively market itself to attract private and public finance and, as a more business-orientated administration took hold, democratic accountability suffered. Today an unelected official, Chief Executive Howard Bernstein, receives a salary of £300,000 a year and is regarded as having more power than the current council leader Richard Leese..jpg)
Neoliberalism is a term often used and misused. It describes the dominant economic ideology both in the UK and globally, an ideology centred around the values of unregulated trade and markets. It is embedded in the global financial system, imposed and regulated by powerful financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Neoliberalism has its roots in the 19th century 'Manchester School' of economics. The Manchester School argued for free trade and radical laissez-faire economics. In economic terms, ‘liberal’ means ‘free’ in the sense of no controls - free enterprise, free trade, and free competition. The economic liberalism of the 19th century fell out of favour following the Great Depression, when governments adopted Keynesian ideas of state intervention such as the American New Deal to increase employment. But the capitalist crisis of the mid 1970s, with its shrinking profit rates, inspired the corporate elite to revive theories of economic liberalism - hence neoliberalism. In Britain the term came to be synonymous with Thatcherism and more recently Blairism, New Labour having made market-led reform of public services into the cornerstone of its ‘modernising’ agenda.
Underlying neoliberalism are the ideas that economic growth benefits everyone in society, that free markets are the most efficient and socially beneficial way of allocating resources, that the private sector is more efficient than the public sector and that the benefits of this sytem will trickle down to the poor. However, in practice neoliberal policies have been shown to benefit the rich proportionately more than the poor, leading to spiralling inequalities. The more ‘advanced’ economies such as the USA and UK have the highest levels of economic inequality in the world. Since 1997, inequality in the UK has worsened, and evidence shows that poor physical health is a result, not just of poverty, but of inequality itself.  |
The neoliberal city, typified by cities such as New York, Chicago, Barcelona and Singapore, sees the incorporation of neoliberal policies on a city scale. It is a link between the dominant global economic system and its local effects. Neoliberal cities compete for private sector investment, public sector funding, visitors and consumers. They spend money to attract money, staging corporatised events such as the Olympic or Commonwealth Games. The governance of the neoliberal city is characterised by an array of partnerships between the public sector and private companies. Cities privatise services, space and assets. Systems of social control are imposed to contain unrest as inequalities increase and to keep the city attractive to investors and visitors. The poor are excluded from city spaces designed to attract the rich and city centres become ever more bland and homogenised. |
| Manchester City Council has been Labour party-controlled since 1984; it is virtually a ‘one party state’. The ‘old’ Labour party won victory on the back of a municipal socialist agenda - radical social policies of decentralised government and the fight against inequality. But poor governance and a lack of money from Conservative central government killed the strategy. |  |
Unable to implement its radical agenda, the council under Labour leader Graham Stringer surrendered to neoliberal, entrepreneurial policies. Stringer turned to private finance to solve the city’s problems and began to work hand in hand with business. The idealistic council slogan of “Defending Jobs, Improving Services” became the vague ‘feel good’ of “Making it happen”. In the late 1980s the Central Manchester Development Corporation undertook urban regeneration schemes in the city centre that forged partnerships between the public and private sector. Bids for the Olympics and Commonwealth Games meant competition with rival cities and the old alliances between northern socialist municipalities were dismantled.
Manchester began to actively market itself to attract private and public finance and, as a more business-orientated administration took hold, democratic accountability suffered. Today an unelected official, Chief Executive Howard Bernstein, receives a salary of £300,000 a year and is regarded as having more power than the current council leader Richard Leese.