Chapter 2 - Neoliberalism and Crime in the United States and the United Kingdom

Summary

Introduction

This chapter begins to develop the theme of the rise of neoliberalism in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and other countries alluded to in the introductory chapter. It considers the extent to which neoliberal ideologies are an inevitable consequence of globalisation and to what extent they are a hegemonic project of some academic and political elites. It then goes on to consider the link between neoliberalism, crime and the criminal justice system.

The Historical Evolution of Liberalism

Historically, liberalism has been associated with the demise of the doctrine of the divine right of kings and its replacement by the concept of a written constitution and the gradual expansion of electoral democracy. Probably the most important fundamental text of liberalism is John Locke's Second Treatise on Government. Locke wrote this in order to justify the Glorious Revolution of 1688, in which William of Orange was invited by British political notables to replace James II. William of Orange arrived with a large army and a printing press, which turned out pamphlets indicating that his intentions were peaceful and that he wanted his monarchy to function pretty much as a rubber stamp to Acts of Parliament. William's political success can be seen as the foundation of the modern British constitutional settlement in which the monarchy is basically decorative rather than absolutist and the state is republican in all but name.