Share

cover art for Neoliberalism VS National Liberation Movements 1945-79

Explaining History

Neoliberalism VS National Liberation Movements 1945-79

•


In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we delve into the complex and often overlooked intersection of Neoliberalism and National Liberation Movements during the pivotal decades of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Drawing insights from Quinn Slobodian's insightful book "Globalists," we unravel the ideological and practical challenges that the process of decolonization presented to neoliberal thinkers of the era. 


As countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America broke free from colonial rule, the foundational principles of neoliberalism—marked by the advocacy for open markets, free trade, and minimal state intervention—were put to the test. The episode explores the fascinating debate around the feasibility of establishing extraterritorial property rights for corporations in these newly independent nations. Could the neoliberal dream of a global free market withstand the rise of nationalistic aspirations and the desire for economic sovereignty among the newly liberated countries?


Through detailed analysis, we examine how figures within the neoliberal camp responded to this challenge, and how the neoliberals themselves had little time for the aspirations of newly decolonised peoples. This episode sheds light on a critical chapter in global history, revealing the intricate dynamics between economic ideologies and the fight for national self-determination. Join us as we navigate the legacies of these historical debates and their implications for our understanding of global economic policies today.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • America's boom years - 1950 to 1970 (part one)

    27:33|
    What factors led to an unprecedented improvement in living standards for white American families during the post war decades? This podcast examines this period that is firmly rooted in the US and world wide imaginary as a moment that is quintessentially American and explores the global transitions that created it. Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

  • Trump 2.0

    35:51|
    It's Trump's second inauguration and here are some thoughts about him, about political organisation in the years ahead and why we absolutely cannot depend on centrist sensibles any longer. Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

  • A brief history of Anarchism

    33:55|
    This episode is the second in our isms and ologies series on Anarchism and gives a concise overview on the history of anarchist thought and politics from the 1848 revolutions onwards. Anarchism shaped countries as diverse as Mexico, Russia, Spain and China and both capitalist and Stalinist regimes sought to destroy it. Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

  • The Mandate System, Palestine, Syria and Iraq

    26:44|
    At the end of the First World War the Ottoman Empire was carved up between the British and the French, with Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq being taken as mandates by Britain and Syria and Lebanon being occupied by France. The British originally secured Syria for France, but the French then overthrew the new king of the country, Faisal, the son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

  • Tiananmen Square 1989 - Part One

    30:48|
    There are two main ways that historians have conceived of the causes of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, both as a struggle between liberalism and authoritarianism and between a people's socialism and a new rising state capitalism. This episode explores the arguments of Yueran Zhang, who suggests that there is a different explanation that can be understood from the motivations of the students and workers who stood up to the regime. Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

  • Civil Rights and the Fragmenting of the New Deal (part 2)

    23:26|
    By the mid to late 1960s the Republican Party had found a series of wedge issues that combined to break three decades of Democrat power by 1968. Richard Nixon implemented the Southern Strategy, a direct appeal to working class white voters in the South who were resentful about the social advances made by black Americans throughout the decade. This podcast explores this struggle in the context of the New Deal era.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

  • Anarchism: A beginners guide Part One

    27:01|
    It's my mission in 2025 to unpack ideologies and navigate their complex fluid nature, contradictions, theorists and explanations of the world. In January we're starting with anarchism and this is the first part of a series of podcasts exploring what exactly anarchism is and what anarchists believe. Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

  • Catastrophic Technologies and Cold War Fears

    32:37|
    During the Cold War a range of liberal and left intellectuals looked at the new technologies born of the Second World War and its aftermath with mounting concern and alarm. Figures like Herbert Marcuse and Theodore Adorno of the Frankfurt School and the Philosopher Martin Heidegger reacted to the destructive power of the atomic bomb and the cultural power of the mass media with fear and pessimism and believed that the world was sleepwalking into catastrophe. In this episode of the Explaining History podcast we speak with Dr Caroline Ashworth of Oxford University about her new book Catastrophic Technology in Cold War Political Thought.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

  • Jean Marie Le Pen and the evolution of French Fascism

    40:22|
    The most significant European fascist since Franco, Jean Marie Le Pen, died this week aged 96. This podcast explores the context of the rise of Le Front Nationale, and explores his role within it. Part two will examine how Le Pen used the failings of Mitterand's government in the 1980s to his advantage. Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here