Philosophy For Our Times16 Maj 2025

Neoliberalism: A Soviet nightmare | Abby Innes

There is an old Soviet joke, ‘Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Communism is its exact opposite.’ On the surface, neoliberalism, with its emphasis on free markets, competition and privatisation, is as far removed as possible from the Soviet Union. But behind the policies, could they be guided by the same false utopianism? Abby Innes, professor of Political Economy at the LSE, argues that the utopianism that guided the Soviet Union to disaster is eerily similar to the decline of our modern politics, and for Western states to succeed they need to throw off the shackles of utopianism and rediscover the scientific method.

Dr Abby Innes weaves political analysis with the scientific method to expose the ironic similarities between our current politics and the Soviet Union. She is an Associate Professor of Political Economy at the European Institute at the LSE. Her work focuses on party-state development, the transition from the Soviet system in Eastern Europe and the modern neoliberal state.

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