Neoliberal Planning: Does It Really Exist?

Abstract

Neoliberalism may be a widely used term in both scientific and popular writings, but there remains much confusion over what its exact contents are – Brenner, Peck, and Theodore (2010a) have called it a ‘rascal’ concept but confirm elsewhere (Brenner, Peck, & Theodore, 2010b) that it remains a ‘keyword for the understanding of regulatory reforms of our time’. Smith (2008) has declared neoliberalism ‘dead but dominant’, and some call for a shift in focus from analysis and critique to the exploration of possible postneoliberalisms (see for example Brand and Sekler (2009) in the theme issue on postneoliberalism in Development Dialogue).