The Invisible Doctrine
João Craveiro reviews George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison's book, 'The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life)'. A crucial read for anyone interested in political discourse, this book brings to light just how this ideology came to control cultural and economic discourse.
The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life)
Published by Penguin Books, 2024
George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison have been attempting to highlight systemic issues needing urgent societal attention throughout their careers. Their latest attempt at doing so goes directly to one of the main root causes. Having only recently begun my political awakening, I write this review to explain why this book could be used as the entry point for people who are already frustrated with our current political system. Its narrative supports the common understanding called for by Green House’s Framing Paper by showing its readers a key cause of the high levels of inequality seen in today’s society. Thus, it could represent an important step towards a movement against these forces - if used as a “call to arms” to those who want to see an overhaul in our economic and political systems. To this end, the authors give a possible solution to our current problems: the construction of inclusive and generous communities could generate a new narrative, one about the common people rising against oligarchs. They call this the “Politics of Belonging”.
Introduction: Redefining our current definitions
One vital part of narrative-defining books is to establish your starting point. The authors do this by framing neoliberalism as an anonymous ideology (hence the book’s title) that has nonetheless infiltrated and reshaped society at a grassroots level. One whose central belief is that competition is the defining feature of humankind, and that casts us as consumers, rather than citizens. And, importantly, an ideology that leaves it up to the “market” to decide who succeeds or not.
This is followed by a bold but necessary step: the redefinition of capitalism. I say necessary here because doing so helps the reader appreciate that what we see today in Neoliberal society is not a “freak” accident, but rather an acceleration of a cornerstone of capitalism - exploitation. The Portuguese discovery and destruction of the island of Madeira is presented to the reader as an early example (the authors state it is the first) of the complete devastation that this system brings. It exposes the system’s inherent reliance on environmental destruction, and later colonial looting, state and private violence and commodification of shared resources. Capitalism has always systemically exploited and destroyed all which it comes into contact with - described as “Boom, Bust, Quit”. In this chapter, the authors suggest that the Portuguese developed a (very) early form of capitalism when they used the uninhabited island for its abundant natural resource (wood) by bringing foreign labour (African slaves) and capital (from Italy), driving its environment further and further into despair and exhaustion. They were only able to do this because the island was terra nullis for those who found it, meaning they were not bound by the social and cultural conditions of the time. Once the island’s primary resource (wood) had been completely depleted, they moved to other islands, and eventually Brazil, developing this practice further.
The way neoliberalism further developed and entrenched itself in society is then further outlined. But the authors do not just name (and shame) figures such as Thatcher and Reagan. They also explain how Bill Clinton and Tony Blair played a major role in bringing society further down to its knees with neoliberal policies that pretended to be “for the people”. This fourth chapter finishes with one of the best deliveries of the whole book - the moment I was convinced of how important neoliberalism has been in shaping our world. Monbiot and Hutchison argue that Bill Clinton was the one who defeated his wife in 2016, not Donald Trump. He did so by supporting the development (and expansion) of neoliberal thinking, which led to the societal divide and public disenfranchisement we see all around us today.
Overall, this introduction does a good job of exposing the ideology of our current economic and political system. And it pulls no punches to show the reader the consequence of this infiltration: “The blame for systemic failure is individuated. We absorb this philosophy until we become our own persecutors.” Ultimately, it would be hard for anyone who has had limited contact with this kind of rhetoric before not to be alarmed by the full extent of this ideology. Taking its time to dive deep into the history of this doctrine, ensures the reader now possesses all the information necessary to fully grasp the reality of neoliberalism's meaning for society.
Consequences: What does it mean
In the next part of the book, the authors dive deeper into what neoliberalism does to our day-to-day life, society, mental state, and even geopolitics. It explains how this economic organisation of society leads to the disempowerment and disenfranchising of the general population by taking advantage of citizens when they are overwhelmed and distracted (borrowing its explanation from “The Shock Doctrine”). It drives this point further by explaining to the reader how Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) function to ensure that the global hierarchical order will be maintained - driving the point further of how harmful and rigged this system is. But it isn’t just at the global level that it generates this inequality: a loss of accountability from the rich to the rest of society has developed over time, and this loss has led to even less accountability. To make matters worse, accompanying this movement, governments have also systematically sold, and in some cases given away public assets. These two movements - the loss of private accountability and the selling of public assets - have thus led to the loss of the producer-consumer reciprocities of old systems. These reciprocities are essential for the proper functioning of a Democracy as they ensure a balance that keeps capitalists under certain constraints and prevents them from plundering (Western) society in the same way the Portuguese plundered Madeira.
This second thematic section of the book highlights the currently felt consequences of neoliberalism. Although this is the part of the book that readers are most likely to already be aware of to some extent, I would argue that few readers will have thought about the issues in such detail before. This is one of the strengths of this book - the way it confronts the reader not just with new information but how it reframes previously known information by adding missing pieces to the puzzle. The puzzle is quite large, and at this stage, it becomes difficult to look away as Monbiot and Hutchison put it together.
Zooming In: Who, What and How
Zooming in on the mechanisms’ have maintained this ideology for so long at the top of the world’s political agenda, the authors then uncover the networks of backers and funders of neoliberalism think tanks. Specifically, individuals and organisations such as the Koch Brothers for the USA or the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Adam Smith Institute for the UK.
The impact of these think tanks is seen through the attacks that public health services such as the NHS and Medicaid have been under, both internally (in the former case) and externally (in the latter case). Indeed, the UK’s love for its health service has done little for the National Health Service - see Keep Our NHS Public - whilst, in the USA, the neoliberal institutions managed to ensure that the general public would never receive a public alternative to private health institutions.
But this impact has not just been felt in public health. Although far from being the first (or last) example of a Neoliberal government, the book argues the Liz Truss government to be the best example of a government making the invisible doctrine its sole guiding star - throwing aside any pretences or ethical considerations. With this, the book argues that the infiltration and dominance of capital over politicians has led to economic and political life not being about the country in which it takes place. The money funding political movements is now what determines which ones are born, which ones survive, and which, ultimately, die. Through it all, think tanks keep the general population confused, divided and afraid through what they rename “Conspiracy Fictions” (normally Theories). These feelings not only keep the countries’ citizens from taking positive action but also favour those who seek more power over society - giving rise to the so-called “strongman”.
Ultimately, the authors chose to make this the biggest section of the book because explaining how these different mechanisms interact with each other and what their natural conclusions could be, is the promise of the book. And in this sense, they delivered on their promise: this was a good breakdown of the root causes of our current systemic problems.
Zooming Out: Where This Takes Us
In the second-to-last section of their book, Monbiot and Hutchison show how this system fails. In reality, they argue, it already imploded from within in 2008 due to a constant erosion of regulations. Secondly, this system cannot continue as it is because the Earth is finite. Again, using the example of Madeira, the authors extrapolate their historical assertion from the beginning of the book to the present time: “In the end, all the world is Madeira”, they assert.
Although short, this explanation (and it was only the tip of the iceberg) of why neoliberalism was doomed from the start, and why it will continue to be doomed, was one of the most impactful parts of the book. This chapter was difficult to read. But it is also crucial, so much so that after this book, I read Heat (2006), Monbiot’s attempt at finding a workable solution to the climate crisis. This chapter demonstrates that this book is not only about historical lessons or granular explanations of the doctrine. This book is about a societal system that is currently failing, and if it isn’t stopped, it will destroy the world.
How we can solve it
Perhaps the most important section of the book starts with the authors offering a change in framework: we need to stop framing our problems individually and start seeing them collectively, both in their causes and their solutions. This is especially intended to contradict the framing of solutions depending on individual action. The concept of a carbon footprint and even recycling have, the authors argue, been developed and put in place as a way of shifting blame onto each one of us - thus keeping it away from the ones truly responsible.
But it does not have to be this way - and it could all change very quickly. The American pivot into a war economy in 1941, for example, shows how quickly action can be taken when the circumstances call for it.
The authors attempt, in the following chapter, to provide a new narrative for how we could change this system. We could, they suggest, reverse the narrative given to us by neoliberalism. We could project a new narrative, one about the common people rising against oligarchs, through the construction of inclusive and generous communities. The authors call this the “Politics of Belonging”.
This new way of Politics (first suggested by Murray Bookchin) would rely heavily on citizen interaction with the state. It would be constantly built and rebuilt by those it served - the authors use diverse areas, such as the northeastern region of Syria and the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, as examples of this working at the community level. The following chapter gives a way forward in societal organisation: we should all be aiming to have a rich society instead of aiming to be individually rich. One way to do so, it proposes, would be to limit how rich someone could be - a concept known as Limitarianism.
Finally, the last chapter of the book argues that bolder and more radical solutions are needed. It suggests that policies attempting not to upset anyone by incrementally implementing change are the problem. And, they argue, ironically enough, the resurgence of the far right has proven that this can be done - societal change can and has happened swiftly in the last 10 years, and so it can be done again, this time for the right reasons.
Overall, it is clear that the authors’ goal with this final section was to motivate those reading the pages to “take up arms” and involve themselves with their community. It is an attempt at showing that a “bottom-up” approach to society is possible and much better. Because there was a risk that reading a book like this could be too overwhelming, this last section proposed solutions and further reading to which the reader can go to immediately after finishing the book. It provides readers with important solution-driven concepts. Finally, it demonstrates that the only obstacle in the way of solving these issues is the belief that they are not solvable. I believe the quote is, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.
Exposing what we all know already
Ultimately, one of the most powerful messages of this book is that everyone already knows the problems neoliberalism has created. It is simply that most people have never had the time to look at the big picture before, or might not have the knowledge and access to materials that would allow them to understand it.
From its introduction, this book was written with the intent of educating the reader about the situation of our world. It accomplishes this goal while never letting us forget that neoliberalism isn’t solely to blame for all this suffering and inequality: capitalism is the base from which it rose. Further, despite being considerably smaller in length than other books in the same category, the solutions offered did a good job of motivating the reader (or at least they motivated me!). The hope is that the reader leaves this book motivated to keep reading and informing themselves, and the authors provide them with resources to keep doing so.
In the end, this book could be used by those who want to help their friends and family understand exactly what it is that society is facing nowadays. This is a great introductory text because, in a mere 162 pages, Monbiot and Hutchison manage to paint a near-complete picture of our current situation - harrowing as it might be. They take the time to dive into difficult-to-understand subjects, always attempting (and often succeeding) at keeping them simple and easy to understand through accessible language. Sometimes, authors can make the mistake of confusing complexity with quality, but when it comes to exposing complex economic and political policies, we need the opposite. Milton Friedman excelled at this, and it is clear to me that the authors decided to learn from him when exposing his ideas for what they are truly worth.
Related Work:
Green House Think Tank
References
Monbiot, George; 2006; Heat: How we can stop the planet burning; Penguin; https://www.monbiot.com/books/heat/
Hutchison, D. Peter; 2019; Healing from Hate: Battle for the Soul of a Nation; Film; Big Tent Productions
Essex, Jonathan; (2024, May 03); Climate Emergency: Economics, Politics, Honesty; Green House Think Tank https://www.greenhousethinktank.org/climate-emergency-economics-politics-honesty-framing-paper/
Klein, Naomi; 2007; The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism; Penguin; https://tsd.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine.html
Category: Think tanks based in the United Kingdom; (2025, February 1). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Think_tanks_based_in_the_United_Kingdom
Keep Our NHS Public;https://keepournhspublic.com/
Solnit, Rebecca; (2021, August 23); Big oil coined ‘carbon footprints’ to blame us for their greed. Keep them on the hook; The Guardian; https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oil-coined-carbon-footprints-to-blame-us-for-their-greed-keep-them-on-the-hook
Symons, Angela; (2024, February 16); Plastic industry knew recycling was a farce for decades yet deceived the public, report reveals; Euronews; https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/02/16/plastic-industry-knew-recycling-was-a-farce-for-decades-yet-deceived-the-public-report-rev
Bookchin, Murray; 2015; The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and the Promise of Direct Democracy; Penguin; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239261/the-next-revolution-by-murray-bookchin/
Robeyns, Ingrid; 2024; Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth; Penguin; https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451473/limitarianism-by-robeyns-ingrid/9781802060478
