Strengths and weaknesses of the neo-liberal approach to development

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, University of Birmingham, course: MSc. International Development, language: English, abstract: The history of development over the last century has been one of competing theoriesand developmental models. From time to time certain models dominated thetheoretical and practical agenda. These models of development had and still have -their own advantages and disadvantages, advocates and opponents, strengths andweaknesses. Neo-liberalism is one of the models that was studied most deeply interms of its positive and negative impacts on development generally and on the staterole specifically. Since the 1970s neoliberal approach was widely applied in different countries aroundthe world, including developing and developed countries with the assistance of theInternational Financial Institutions (IFI) that evidently advocate for neoliberalism indeveloping countries. Therefore, strong debates on the efficiency and validity of thisapproach were developed (Greig et al., 2007). This paper will discuss neoliberalism as one of the development models. It attempts tohighlight the strengths and weaknesses of the neoliberal approach to development. Itwill start by reviewing the emergence and evolution of neoliberalism. Then, some ofthe strengths and weaknesses of neoliberalism will be presented. Chilean andEgyptian case studies will be briefly highlighted in order to illustrate the strengths andweaknesses of neoliberalism. Finally, the conclusion will be presented.