Green Neoliberalism

Green neoliberalism is, in the simplest of terms, the idea of a convergence of the liberal desire to expand and intensify market forces and environmentally sustainable development for the global South. The phrase was coined by sociologist Michael Goldman to help explain how these two seemingly conflicting projects/ideologies have become institutionalized by global governing institutions, particularly—but not limited to—the World Bank. The implementation of green neoliberal strategies has led to “environmental states” that open themselves to market forces and the (self-)governance of subjects along neoliberal lines. Although still relatively new, the phrase has been applied to new areas of global environmental governance, including investigations of the Montreal Protocol.

To understand green neoliberalism, we must first understand neoliberalism. Neoliberalism and globalization are often used interchangeably, but this is only the case when the rhetoric of neoliberals matches the policies implemented. Neoliberalism is, in a word, the belief that economically free markets are ends in themselves, and market transactions will lead to the most effective, efficient solutions regardless of the application. Although neoliberalism undoubtedly takes on varying characteristics when applied to real life, we can identify its basic tenets:

• Privatization via the creation of property rights for previously state-owned phenomena
• Maximization of contracts for services rendered, emphasizing the shortening of those contracts, especially for labor agreements
• Opening of markets where they previously did not exist and the intensification of markets, such as through the use of electronic instruments to track worker progress, to automate stock trading, and to assess production procedures
• Deregulation, or the “rollback” of government involvement in social and environmental aspects of daily life, often to establish market proxies for social services previously provided by the state
• Reregulation, or the “rollout” of government policies to facilitate the implementation of the abovementioned aspects of neoliberal agendas
• Increased reliance on civil society groups and private institutions to provide social and environmental needs that governments previously provided

Geographers Neil Brenner and Nik Theodore argue that neoliberalism is a process, taking on various forms depending on the specific spatial and temporal configurations of social, political, and environmental life, which they describe as “actually existing neoliberalism.” In other words, neoliberalism never exists as an ideal type but, rather, is embedded [Page 209]in specific articulations of social life that make neoliberal policy impossible to fully realize. It is from this tradition that Michael Goldman is able to provide a sociological, yet uneven, spatial, and temporal character to green neoliberalism.

Green neoliberalism emphasizes the global dimension of neoliberalism, in which globalization—regulated by global governing institutions—is seen as encouraging or coercing nation-states into conducting themselves like business firms. Nation-states are encouraged to “sell themselves” to the global market as prime sites for private investment, not simply for selling goods. Green neoliberalism also includes the idea that governments must attract business to efficiently manage their natural resources. Nation-states are seen as being much less adept at managing the natural environment because of a lack of competition. This ideology is disseminated by global financial organizations, like the International Monetary Fund, through its macroeconomic policies, and by global development banks, like the World Bank, through its financial and technical assistance programs to less-developed countries. Scholars have criticized both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for being undemocratic and lacking transparency (e.g., the World Bank president is always an American appointed by the president of the United States, the International Monetary Fund managing director always a European). These global organizations, especially the World Bank, are seen as spearheading the implementation of green neoliberalism in the less-developed world. Because of its enormous operations involving private consultants, engineers, and nongovernmental organizations, and the ability to disseminate massive amounts of data and other forms of knowledge, the World Bank is seen as a key institution in the creation of business-friendly “environmental states.” The World Bank has effectively established a dominant, long-standing discursive understanding of environmentalism and a dominant way of implementing that discourse in development practices.

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