Social policy in a globalized economy: neoliberalism, crisis and response

Chapter 4 is on the formation of a global social policy environment in the context of neoliberal capitalism. This chapter examines the emergence of a new social policy outlook where people throughout the world were called upon to act as rational market agents and adapt to the insecurity-laden environment of the flexible production system. As the ‘unmaking’ of the organized working classes with social security protection and the rising inequality within and between nations proceeded, the optimistic post-cold war observations about the transitions to democracy in East Central Europe as well as in developing countries were challenged by the developments in global politics marked by widespread authoritarian populist trends. In this context, we also see the emergence of a rich body of social policy literature with important insights to the problems of work, poverty and membership in society. These insights have become all the more relevant after the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the problems of the existing capitalist order and led to questions of the possibility of a different world order.