Introduction: Orthodoxies, Challenges and Change

Abstract

Since the turn of the new millennium the world has experienced a high degree of change. This follows on from, and is sometimes in response to, the many challenges that emerged out of the post-Cold War era of globalisation and attempts to universalise certain rules and norms. During the first decade of the 21st century, observers noted significant shifts in economic and political power from the West Eastwards; and in 2008, an era of financial and economic crises was initiated across the Western world. Given the crises and the various failures they infer, questions have arisen about a paradigm shift away from Western-backed neoliberal orthodoxies in economic governance practices (cf. Gamble 2009; Hay 2010; Roberts 2010; Crouch 2011; Broome et al. 2012). The conclusion reached, albeit for a range of different reasons, is that although governance failures exist, no such paradigm shift has yet occurred. Neoliberal economic institutions are still entrenched both at the level of many inter-governmental organisations (IGOs) (Broome et al. 2012) and at the national level within many Western nations including the UK (Gamble 2009; Hay 2010).