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 theories

and developmental models. From time to time certain models dominated the

theoretical and practical agenda. These models of development had ¿ and still have -

their own advantages and disadvantages, advocates and opponents, strengths and

weaknesses. Neo-liberalism is one of the models that was studied most deeply in

terms of its positive and negative impacts on development generally and on the state

role specifically.

Since the 1970s neoliberal approach was widely applied in different countries around

the world, including developing and developed countries with the assistance of the

International Financial Institutions (IFI) that evidently advocate for neoliberalism in

developing countries. Therefore, strong debates on the efficiency and validity of this

approach were developed (Greig et al., 2007).

This paper will discuss neoliberalism as one of the development models. It attempts to

highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the neoliberal approach to development. It

will start by reviewing the emergence and evolution of neoliberalism. Then, some of

the strengths and weaknesses of neoliberalism will be presented. Chilean and

Egyptian case studies will be briefly highlighted in order to illustrate the strengths and

weaknesses of neoliberalism. Finally, the conclusion will be presented.