The 'necessary myth' of globalization: The Washington Consensus and the limits of neoliberalism

The process of globalization has come to represent a variety of things to a variety of groups. Both supporters and opponents of globalization have attributed various characteristics of the current global environment to globalization; even while there is no universally accepted definition of the term.;Examining the theoretical foundations of neoliberalism will isolate the transformative elements ideologies possess from the technical process of globalization. This is not to argue that globalization is not transformative, rather that it is just far less capable of manipulating the social, political and economic dynamics of any environment in the way ideologies can.;This thesis attempts to demythologize globalization by arguing that it is ideologies and not globalization which determines the characteristics and dynamics of any environment. This will be done by examining the neoliberal inspired Washington Consensus which was imposed on numerous nations in the developing world after the global oils shocks of the 1970s. The Washington Consensus' policies did not produce favourable results in any of the locations in which they were applied. These negatives effects were not due to globalization but rather due to limitations ingrained within neoliberalism.