Neo-Liberal Idealism, state building and the Washington Consensus: a story (still) under development

Abstract

The paper links some of the major events and changes in international relations thinking over the last 30 years—such as the ending of the Cold War, the growing intolerance in the West of human rights abuses, the emerging doctrine of conditional sovereignty, and the recognition of trans-national threats by states—to demonstrate: i) that the Washington Consensus list of development principles, originally identified by John Williamson, has been co-opted into an ideological vision for reshaping and homogenising the behaviour of states (both internally and externally); and ii) that doing so has resulted in a failing attempt at 'securitising' international development, which has led the US and its allies into a security and development 'dead end'.