Colloque Lippmann meets in Paris.
Friedrich Hayek publishes “The Road to Serfdom”.
First Meeting of the Mt Pelerin Society occurs in the Alps.
Nixon ends the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944 that had tied national currencies to a gold standard.
Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet turns to Milton Friedman and the Chicago School to implement market reforms.
The Oil Crisis destabilizes Keynesianism.
Milton Friedman wins the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Michel Foucault delivers pioneering lectures on neoliberalism and biopolitics at the Collège de France.
Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister of the UK (1979) and Ronald Reagan becomes president of the US (1980).
Neoliberal policies cause currency crisis in Mexico.
The Berlin Wall falls, signifying the end of communism in Eastern Europe.
The US, Canada, and Mexico begin negotiations on a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); it goes into effect in 1994.
Twelve states form the European Union, expanding the free movement of capital, goods, and people.
The Chiapas Uprising occurs in southeastern Mexico.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) forms, rendering the Washington Consensus a global project.
The East Asian Crisis halts work on the Sathorn Unique Tower in Bangkok, Thailand. It never resumes.
Prime Minister Tony Blair implements his ‘New Labour’ vision, a progressive version of neoliberalism.
The US Congress repeals Glass-Steagall, deregulating Wall Street.
The "Battle of Seattle" against globalization erupts at a WTO meeting.
China is admitted to the WTO.
Global Financial Crash strikes economies everywhere in the world.
Occupy Wall Street, and its slogan, "We are the 99 percent!", makes economic inequality a global political issue.
The British vote YES on Brexit, striking a blow at visions of a borderless Europe and world.
Donald Trump assumes the US presidency, fracturing the neoliberal order.
A victory of a center-left coalition led by Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders points the US to a progressive post-neoliberal future.
Donald Trump is once again elected president.
ABOUT
This event took place from 29–31 May 2025 at the Møller Institute, Churchill College, University of Cambridge.
Funded by a grant from Hewlett Foundation’s “Economy and Society” initiative, this three-day conference gathered a high-profile and interdisciplinary group of scholars and thinkers – social scientists, legal scholars, historians, journalists, public intellectuals, and policymakers – from all around the world.
Schedule
If you'd like to see the schedule from the event you can view that here.
CONTACT
For inquiries, please contact:
info@beyond-neoliberalism.org