Discusses the end of the Cold War and the rise of neoliberalism. Features Fritz Bartel, assistant professor at the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University.
Grab a copy of Fritz’s book The Triumph of Broken Promises: The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Neoliberalism!
Episode 1
Lays the groundwork for the neoliberal era, discussing the particularities of the original Cold War as compared with the new one with China, why great power competition might end peacefully when that’s not anticipated, the social contract promising “modernity’s good life”, the politics behind making promises, and more.
Episode 2
The group gets into the nitty gritty of Fritz’s book, discussing the early 70s moment and the advent of neoliberalism, consumption as seen in both liberal democratic capitalism and state socialism, inflation and more into the early 1980s.
Episode 3
Explores Paul Volcker's monetarism in the 70s and the ensuing sovereign debt crisis in the Global South and communist bloc, the Soviet Union’s 80s pivot to prioritize domestic reforms over supporting its allies, 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe, the US's "power of omission" to push capitalist reforms in Eastern Europe, America’s reluctance to reimagine European security after the Cold War, post-reunification East Germany seeing economic disparities and far-right sentiments, and the US's lack of support for Russia's economic transition in the 1990s that strained relations between the two countries.
Do you recall if Mr Bartell addressed Nixon’s price control actions in his book, relevant now because the histrionics around the Kamala campaign promises. Any layman’s research on the efficacy of nixon’s actions yield wildly divergent takes on it’s success, some analysis suggests that it is what laid the groundwork for the 70’s recession, others say it was sound policy to control inflation.
Obviously the history of economics and foreign policy is treated like a statistical grab bag for vested interests to support whatever argument they are making but I’m in need of some demystifying over here.