neoliberaladj.n.
/ˌniːə(ʊ)ˈlɪb(ə)rəl/, /ˌniːə(ʊ)ˈlɪb(ə)rl/, U.S. /ˌnioʊˈlɪbər(ə)l/, /ˌnioʊˈlɪbr(ə)l/ A. adj.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of any of various modified or revived forms of traditional liberalism, typically based on belief in free market capitalism and the rights of the individual.The term has been applied variously to centrist, left-of-centre, and right-wing political standpoints at different points in time and in different countries, generally depending on whether the emphasis is on economic or social liberalism.
ΚΠ
1898 Econ. Jrnl. 8 492 The Neo-liberal school, of which M. Pantaleoni is one of the highest authorities, retains the same old attitude towards co-operation.
1930 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 38 490 Mr. Halm (a member of the neo-liberal school of Professor Adolf Weber, of Munich) sets out to controvert the argument that competition is giving place to socialism.
1951 Amer. Hist. Rev. 56 273 British ‘actuality’ is best explained by historians who write in the Whig–Liberal–Labour tradition. But..the present situation is unbalanced and unhealthy, tending to create a sort of neoliberal stereotype.
1966 Economist 14 May p. xii/3 The restrictive view of the common market as a strictly neo-liberal free trade affair would win the day.
1989 A. Cochrane & J. E. Anderson Polit. in Transition 123 Development agencies..are explicitly market-oriented and sometimes presented as examples of the neo-liberal, non-interventionist virtues.
2000 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 20 Jan. 18/4 Historians of the future may see Clinton as a neoliberal, neo-civil-rights radical, taking up Martin Luther King Jr.'s unfinished work toward an economic justice that transcends race.
2013 V. Chandra Geek Sublime (2014) iv. 64 A neo-liberal passion for idealized free markets and unchecked profit-making.
B. n.
An advocate of neoliberal principles or policies.
ΚΠ
1921 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 27 320 He [sc. Herbert Spencer] thus came very near to the position taken by the neo-Liberals, Hobhouse and Hobson, differing chiefly in not complaining that the expenditures in imperialism prevented great appropriations for social legislation at home.
1935 Sun (Baltimore) 16 July 10/1 He thinks an arrangement by which Russia agrees to double her purchases from us, in consideration of lower rates for a few Russian products which we need is a ‘sucker deal’... Such an attitude by a Senator who has been out in front as a neo-liberal is puzzling.
1952 A. T. Bouscaren tr. R. Buron in Jrnl. Politics 14 109 The neo-liberals are attached to political democracy separated from economic democracy.
1980 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts June 415/2 The remedy recommended by neo-liberals..presupposes..that trickling-down of privileges which in fact never happens.
1994 P. Whiteley et al. True Blues 128 Neo-liberals eschew incomes policies, favour deregulation, and emphasize the importance of incentives for promoting prosperity.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.n.1898