Does COVID-19 as a Long Wave Turning Point Mean the End of Neoliberalism?

Abstract

The author claims that the COVID-19 pandemic could cause neoliberalism to break, based on four arguments addressed in four sections. The first section demonstrates that such a break is possible within the long wave theory framework. The second section points out that the neoliberal long wave was created by certain social and political actors from the 1980s onward and has already entered the downswing period since 2008. The third section shows that COVID-19 creates an economic crisis that causes an ideological transformation that further weakens neoliberalism. The fourth section emphasizes that the attitudes of industrial relations actors (and conflicts between them) will affect the shaping of the post-COVID-19 period. As a result, the trade union political action will be crucial in the coming years to revive themselves and create more regulated capital–labor relations.