ABSTRACT
In the course of the last four decades, neo-liberalism (or neo-conservatism, in the American terminology) has established itself as the dominant form of governing both national societies and global affairs. What began in the 1930s as a marginal and insignificant academic movement in economics may be understood today as a global economic regime that we can subdivide into different strands, namely an economic theory, a political ideology, a policy paradigm and a social imaginary (Evans and Sewell Jr, 2013: 36). In somewhat different terms, one can conceive of neo-liberalism as a technical policy debate, as an institutionalised crisis containment strategy, and as a hegemonic ideology or system of thought (Centeno and Cohen, 2012: 318). Thus, neo-liberalism is not only the dominant paradigm of a scientific discipline, but also the triumphantly dominant framework in the everyday life of citizens. Around the globe, neo-liberal economics deeply affects both civil societies and the institution of citizenship through the intrusion of market principles into the private sphere. We have also witnessed the rise of new elites, the marketisation of citizenship, growing income inequality, and shifting power relations between state, market and the citizen.
