NATURE L4- Neoliberal Nature

Question 1

A) Harvey (2005)

Answer 1

Neoliberalism proposes that human well-being is best advanced by liberating individual entreprenual freedoms.

This is done via free markets, trade and private property rights.

‘Accumulation by dispossession’

This came into prominence in the 1980s under the rule of Thatcher and Reagan as a response to the failure of Keynesian policies.

Question 2

Peck and Tickell (2002)

Answer 2

We should think of neoliberalism “not as a thing” but as “a process”

Question 3

A) McCarthy and Prudham (2004)

Answer 3

Core principles of neoliberalism:

1) self regulating markets
2) antagonism towards state intervention
3) endorsement of private property rights and commodification
4) Cuts to fiscal and administrative spending

Question 4

Harvey (2007)

Answer 4

“Neoliberalism is characterised by strong private property rights, free markets and free trade”

Question 5

Williamson (1990)

Answer 5

Core principles of the Washington Consensus:

1) Fiscal cut backs
2) Redirection of public spending
3) Tax reform
4) Market determined interest rates
5) Competitive exchange rates
6) Deregulation

Question 6

Castree (2008)

Answer 6

Neoliberalism is a way of governing nature

1) The assertion of private property rights over nature
2) Market logistics to manage the bio-physical world
3) The extension of market mechanisms into nature

Question 7

B) McCarthy and Prudham (2004)

Answer 7

“Neoliberalism is significantly constituted by changing social relations with bio-physical nature”

Question 8

Bakker (2005)

Answer 8

Processes of neoliberalism:

1) Privatisation
2) Commercialisation
3) Commodification

Question 9

McAfee (2003)

Answer 9

[SEEDS}
Double reductionism us happening on a molecular scale:
1) genetic reductionism
2) economic reductionism

Question 10

Castree (2010)

Answer 10

Market mechanisms are increasingly being used to govern climate change:

1) Commodification of GHG emissions (Carbon trading)
2) Commercialisation of ‘rights to pollute’

Question 11

Heynen (2007)

Answer 11

Water is increasingly at the frontier of neoliberal investment- this is resulting in the ‘cherry picking’ of areas to invest in.

Question 12

Jaffee and Newman (2013)

Answer 12

Bottled water is an example of the commodification of water.

Question 13

B) Harvey (2005)

Answer 13

Neoliberalism has become a hegemonic discourse and economic policy- it has done this by playing on the ideals of freedom. This was extremely persuasive in the 70s when almost everybody was affected by the crisis of capital accumulation. This especially threatened the economic elite.

Thus, neoliberalism can be understood as either:

1) a utopian project for the re-organisation of capitalism
2) a project to restore the power of the economic elite

Question 14

C) McCarthy and Prudham (2004)

Answer 14

Neoliberalism generates changing social relations with the biosphere.

Environmentalism offers a source of opposition against neoliberalism. Increased environmental protection was a key success of the Keynesian state.

This is increasing becoming compromised with profits and markets being made the priority.

Question 15

Harvey (2006)

Answer 15

Environmentalists keep check on neoliberalism HOWEVER they have failed to address the issue of equity.

This has resulted in responses that are uneven- e.g. the disposal of toxic waste.

Question 16

Himley (2008)

Answer 16

Governance refers to the “trend away from state-centric forms of social and economic regulation associated with post-Fordist state restructuring”.

This has led to non state actors having a say in political decisions regarding the environment.

Regulation theory argues that resource development is deeply contested and conflict ridden (over access, distribution and cultural values assigned to nature)

Urban regime theory seeks to understand how different actors wield power through institutions to shape development policies.

The enclosure of the commons is a key concern of UPE

Question 17

Bakker (2003)

Answer 17

Bio-physical properties of natural resources impact and shape the ways in which they are governed.

For example, water is an uncooperative commodity due to its physical properties.

Question 18

Heynen and McCarthy (2007)

Answer 18

Accumulation by dispossession is embedded in the ideas of:

a) state governance will inevitably fail
b) market forces produce optimal outputs

Water has been a central focus of implementing neoliberal policies.
Since the inception of urban water systems, they have been characterised by shifting public/private regimes.

Privatisation has led to the re-regulation and quasi-governmental regulatory structure of the water sector. Governance is now mainly done on a global scale- resulted in cherry picking.

This has turned water into capital and users into consumers.