After Neoliberalism? Brazil, India, and China in the Global Economic Crisis

Against the backdrop of debates about 'post-neoliberalism', we examine the implications of the global economic crisis for three important semi-peripheral states: Brazil, India, and China. Deploying a framework which combines neo-Gramscian theory, radical economic geography, and materialist state theory, we find that all their political-economic models have undergone processes of substantial neoliberalisation, albeit to varying degrees and partly giving way to countervailing trends well before the global turmoil. The crisis has markedly accentuated ongoing developments. In Brazil, it has reinforced a transition to a neo-developmentalist strategy. In contrast, the Indian elites have quickly returned to the path of gradual neoliberalisation. In China, it is still unclear whether a fundamental social-corporatist regime change will be accomplished. Our analysis thus suggests a divergence of trajectories, rather than a general rebound of the state, let alone a full-blown post-neoliberal transformation.