After ’08: Social Policy and the Global Financial Crisis

The global financial crisis of 2007-08 shook the economic foundations of nations, collapsed large financial institutions, and wiped out the livelihoods of millions of people. The crisis also marked a turning point for social policy, as world leaders were forced to take an ideological position: Should they pursue a neo-liberal response to the crisis through austerity measures, increased privatization, and greater deregulation? Or should they implement alternative policies to challenge the dominant neo-liberal paradigm? After ’08 examines how key global institutions, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and International Labour Organization, as well as nation states around the world responded to the crisis. Comparing the experience of countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America, contributors gauge the extent to which the neo-liberal landscape has shifted since the onset of the financial crisis and explore the directions social policy has taken. Did solutions to the crisis follow a similar trajectory across countries and regions? Or did the diversity in national experiences produce a diversity of policy responses? And, if the latter, where did alternatives to neo-liberalism emerge? —