Neoliberal
Angela Merkel's leadership of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) (2005–2021) represents Neoliberalism in practice. She prioritized fiscal conservatism, reducing public debt and implementing labor market reforms such as Agenda 2010. Merkel supported privatization, deregulation, and market-oriented policies while maintaining a strong executive role in crisis management, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What it believes
Markets allocate better than ministries: privatize, deregulate, open trade, target inflation, and let competition and price signals organize what plans and tariffs mangled — globally, if possible.
The appeal
The scoreboard is real: the tariff walls fell and a billion people left absolute poverty; supply chains, cheap goods, and the longest disinflation in modern history all carry its signature. It won the argument of its era.
Where it breaks
It booked the aggregate gains and ignored their address: hollowed regions, financial crises socialized after private booms, and a politics of revenge from everyone the aggregate forgot. 'The economy grew' proved no answer to 'my town died'.
Among its neighbours
The Neo-Conservative above wanted the same order and sent the army with it. The Centrist beside it administers the settlement without the zeal. Below, the Liberal Capitalist adds explicit civil-libertarian commitments. Marketward, the Liberal Conservative wraps the program in tradition.
Figures — real and imagined — who share the Neoliberal base ideology. They differ only on the third axis: from radical to restorationist, each is a different face of a Neoliberal.
The company you keep.
The social axis (progressive ↔ traditional) splits Neoliberal into nine named shades. Take the quiz to find out which one is yours.
- Radical Neoliberal
- Progressive Neoliberal
- Reformist Neoliberal
- Heterodox Neoliberal
- Neoliberal
- Rooted Neoliberal
- Traditional Neoliberal
- Reactionary Neoliberal
- Restorationist Neoliberal