Postneoliberalism – A Beginning Debate

In the last 30 years, neoliberal policies have been implemented in almost every society on the globe, resulting in fairly specific ‘neoliberal’ configurations. This volume has been compiled in time for the World Social Forum in January 2009 in Belém in order to initiate a new debate. It offers various responses to the negative impacts of neoliberalism and its growing inability to deal with the upcoming contradictions and crises. The contributors are mainly scholar-activists from different parts of the world, who present perspectives on social, political and/or economic transformations. They deal with shifting terrains of social struggles and compromises, taking place on different scales, in various contexts and by diff erent actors. All postneoliberal approaches have in common that they constitute a rupture with specific aspects of ‘neoliberalism’. The contributors explore different aspects of a possible postneoliberalism, focusing on continuities and discontinuities, which vary in depth, complexity and scope, and relate to everyday practices as well as comprehensive concepts.