War and strange non-death of neoliberalism: The military foundations of modern economic ideologies

Abstract

This essay provides a hypothesis about how geopolitical environments significantly affect the rise and fall of modern economic ideologies. First, it articulates how the two world wars transformed political, social and ideological conditions into those favourable for the rise of Keynesianism. Second, it theoretically identifies the political and social foundations of Keynesianism with expanded state capacity, social cohesion and social equality, all of which were by-products of major wars. Third, it shows how the transformation of geopolitical environments and the change of the nature of warfare since the late 1960s undermined the political and social foundations of Keynesianism and paved the way for the rise and dominance of neoliberalism. By shedding light on military and geopolitical dimensions of international environments, our hypothesis well explains the sudden fall of Keynesianism in the 1970s and the current robustness of neoliberal dominance.