Explaining the contradictory creativity of neoliberalism: Evidence from the economic development agendas of four European second-tier cities

Abstract

Neoliberalism has become dominant in many policy fields since the 1980s. However, it has evolved into multifarious and hybrid forms that have generated several variegations. This uneven development has also led to a series of systematic contradictions, which are now considered a distinctive attribute of the actually existing neoliberalism. The so-called contradictory creativity is considered inherent to neoliberal policies, but the mechanism through which it actually develops is not clear yet. According to several scholars, the contradictions are mainly context-induced, because neoliberal policies are often path-dependent on preexisting local practices and institutions and are also often partially transformed and adapted to react to local frictions, emerging conflicts and endogenous crises. This article is aimed at addressing this issue by explaining the features of this contradictory creativity and the mechanism through which it develops. The analysis focuses on the neoliberal economic development agendas that have been promoted and implemented in four entrepreneurial second-tier cities from the 1980s up to the Great Recession of the end of the 2000s. The analysis will argue that the inherent contradictions detected in these neoliberal urban economic agendas were not only context-induced and that a mechanism of neoliberalization of Keynesian-Kaleckian policies took place.

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