Neoliberal Legality Understanding the Role of Law in the Neoliberal Project

Neoliberalism has been studied as a political ideology, an historical moment, an economic programme, an institutional model, and a totalising political project. Yet the role of law in the neoliberal story has been relatively neglected, and the idea of neoliberalism as a juridical project has yet to be considered. That is: neoliberal law and its interrelations with neoliberal politics and economics has remained almost entirely neglected as a subject of research and debate. This book provides a systematic attempt to develop a holistic and coherent understanding of the relationship between law and neoliberalism. It does not, however, examine law and neoliberalism as fixed entities or as philosophical categories. And neither is its objective to uncover or devise a ?law of neoliberalism?. Instead, it uses empirical evidence to explore and theorise the relationship between law and neoliberalism as dynamic and complex social phenomena. Developing a nuanced concept of ?neoliberal legality?, neoliberalism, it is argued here, is as much a juridical project as a political and economic one. And it is only in understanding the juridical thrust of neoliberalism that we can hope to fully comprehend the specificities, and continuities, of the neoliberal period as a whole.

Introduction, Honor Brabazon 1. Law, Development, and Political Closure Under Neoliberalism, Tor Krever 2. Neoliberalism and Economic Sovereignty: Property, Contracts, and Foreign Investment Relations, Nicolás Perrone 3. Neoliberal Law and Regulation, Andrés Palacios Lleras 4. Law, Social Policy, and the Neoliberal State, Kenneth Veitch 5. Law, Neoliberalism, and the Constitution of Political Subjectivity: The Case of Organised Labour, Robert Knox 6. Continuity and Rupture in Restraining the Right to Strike, Ntina Tzouvala 7. The Promise of Rights: International Indigenous Rights in the Neoliberal Era, Kristin Ciupa 8.. Dissent in a Juridified Political Sphere, Honor Brabazon 9. Alegality: Outside and Beyond the Legal Logic of Late Capitalism, Vanja Hamzić

Honor Brabazon is an Assistant Professor, Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto, Canada.