For anyone seeking a dispassionate account of neoliberalism, what it is, where it came from and (possibly) where it’s going, this is the book for you. David Lane describes how global neoliberalism became the current dominant mode of capitalism, by adopting the theories of Friedrich von Hayek and its later developments by Milton Friedman in the USA. Hayek received the Nobel Prize for economics in 1974, and his ideas directly influenced the widespread dismantling of European ‘state socialist’ and welfare-based governments that arose after World War 2. His argument - that there is no better economic alternative to market capitalist competition - was widely accepted as gospel in the developed world and even now, while urgent, intractable problems show no signs of either improving or going away, but only of getting worse, the proponents of neoliberalism (the rich and powerful few who are doing very well out of it) insist that more of the same is the only solution. As Lane observes, “When economic policies do not work, the errors are attributed to faulty application rather than to the underlying ideological assumptions on which institutions and policies are based”.

David Lane examines the claims that neoliberalism makes for itself alongside the reality, explores other economic and political systems with particular reference to China, and suggests that regulated market socialism could provide a realistic alternative to out-of-control, neoliberal capitalist globalisation in the twenty-first century. The million-dollar question of course is, is anyone listening? And what are the conditions that could halt the apparent reckless plunge towards human extinction? As the economist Ha-Joon Chang puts it, “there is simply too much money, too much power and too much intellectual prestige at stake for the neoliberal regimes to go quietly”.

Neoliberalism is a normative theory, that is, a theory that makes claims about what is good or bad, and what ought to be done to achieve these desired objectives. Thus it does not use existing reality as a starting point. Everything hinges around the needs and wants of the individual; social classes and collective interests are not considered. Competitiveness between individuals is resolved through a mystical process called ‘catallaxy’, which is the supposed economic order that arises from individuals pursuing their various goals through exchange, and the resulting intervention of a hidden, ‘invisible hand’. The seven main theoretical pillars of neoliberalism, outlined by Lane, are:

Psychological - motivations of self-interest act as drivers of economic development. Such psychological drives must be allowed to flourish, unfettered by the state;

Legal - supremacy of law which defends individual liberty, defines rights to property, enforces the supremacy of the free market and limits state activity;

Economic - unrestricted market activity through competition at all levels of the economy;

Political - the state is subject to law and cannot override it. The state exercises law enforcement legitimated by electoral bourgeois democracy; it maintains property rights and the institutions of market exchange; state activities are subject to market forces;

Social - individuals, families and other autonomous groupings such as charities. The promotion of diversity and anti-discrimination, and the monetarisation of human relationships;

Coordination - the market is the principal form of exchange; the process of catallaxy (mutual spontaneous adjustment) and exchange between people promotes well-being. International institutions set and enforce rules between national and global economic entities;

Boundaries - the international system, mediated by agreements between states, promotes free geographical movement of capital, labour, goods and services. Global institutions enforce rules to promote free capitalist intercourse on a world scale. Political intervention in ‘unfree’ states by ‘liberal’ states is legitimate, to secure ‘freedom’.

In only 300 pages, David Lane examines (and dismisses) theories such as ‘post capitalism’ (as put forward by Paul Mason); in short, capitalism still exists. He discusses the problems of the former socialist countries, the rise of the BRICS economies, the changed nature of the ruling class (changed apart from the fact it still rules), his ‘six main structural alternatives to neoliberalism’, the significance of new technology, the self-destructing propensities of global capitalism - and the extent to which these are caused by globalism or capitalism. His tone is measured and scholarly, illustrated by the breadth of footnotes, graphs and references to other sources, while remaining highly readable and persuasive.