Strengths and weaknesses of the neo-liberal approach to development

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, University of Birmingham, course: MSc. International Development, language: English, abstract: The history of development over the last century has been one of competing theories
and developmental models. From time to time certain models dominated the
theoretical and practical agenda. These models of development had ¿ and still have -
their own advantages and disadvantages, advocates and opponents, strengths and
weaknesses. Neo-liberalism is one of the models that was studied most deeply in
terms of its positive and negative impacts on development generally and on the state
role specifically.
Since the 1970s neoliberal approach was widely applied in different countries around
the world, including developing and developed countries with the assistance of the
International Financial Institutions (IFI) that evidently advocate for neoliberalism in
developing countries. Therefore, strong debates on the efficiency and validity of this
approach were developed (Greig et al., 2007).
This paper will discuss neoliberalism as one of the development models. It attempts to
highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the neoliberal approach to development. It
will start by reviewing the emergence and evolution of neoliberalism. Then, some of
the strengths and weaknesses of neoliberalism will be presented. Chilean and
Egyptian case studies will be briefly highlighted in order to illustrate the strengths and
weaknesses of neoliberalism. Finally, the conclusion will be presented.