Varieties of neoliberalism. Conceptual innovation for the analysis of the role of the State in markets

Abstract

Neoliberalism, sometimes considered an obsolete concept, is essential to analyze state-market relations. Its heuristic potential is due to the coexistence between on one hand a common base in the competition as a mechanism of coordination to provide any good or service, and in the other hand the diversity of the ways for the state to promote this competition. This leads to four varieties of neoliberalism: orthodox, regulated, emulator and mixed. The analysis of three reforms from the Concertation governments in Chile (1990-2010) empirically illustrate the pay-offs of this innovative conceptual framework, which enables broader intersectorial comparisons and offer a more elaborate alternative to the discourses on post-neoliberalism.