The Increases in Global Inter-Dependence in Economic, Political and Cultural Spheres - Assignment Example

As Jessop notes, neoliberal doctrine emerged as a dominant ideological force due to the convergence of progressive trends of economic internationalization, the apparent failure of the Keynesian welfare state, East Asian developmentalism and Soviet model of central planning; and the emergence of new social forces brought about by the former developments (Jessop 105). The neoliberal theorists seem to proceed from the same assumptions that social liberals take for granted; they proclaim their commitment to a basic right of individual autonomy and assert that the basis of modern society should consist of a wide variety of voluntary associations independent from the state control.

Nevertheless, neoliberals take the common idea of all liberal thinkers about the necessity of expansion of market economy (Jessop 106) to its extreme limits, arguing that all social relations should be evaluated from the point of their compatibility with the freedom of market transactions. This includes an emphasis on deregulation of the financial markets both in domestic and international spheres; the ideological commitment to the curtailment of state intervention in the capitalist market economy; the introduction of the principle of market efficiency into the sphere of public welfare; and the commitment for the privatization of public enterprises and services (Jessop 107).

The cities and city-regions are especially affected by the neoliberal project of globalization. The dramatic restructuring of urban communities that began in the 1970s to 1980s led to the increasing marginalization of the relatively numerous swathes of the urban population caused by the drastic rise in unemployment. The initiation of a series of elite urban projects such as the EU’s complex in Brussels or Dublin’s financial district did little to alleviate the situation, merely underscoring the rising gap between different social groups of the urban population.