Neoliberalism and the event.

The first decade of the twenty-first century witnessed different and heterogeneous series of events such as those inaugurated by 9/11 or the financial crisis of September 2008. While some have argued that these events are markers of crisis of neoliberalism as ideology or system of economic governance, it is now widely conceded that they have not lead to its demise or replacement by another regime (a 'Berlin Wall moment'), and seem to confirm its remarkable 'resilience'. This gives credibility to an alternative view, that crisis has become intrinsic to the logic of neoliberalism's implementation and extension. In this context, it is worth examining the relationship between the event and neoliberalism. The paper explores the notion of the event and distinguishes three aspects of neoliberalism: as 'thought collective', as regime of government, and as metaphysics. It then examines the treatment of the event as rupture, exception, crisis and catastrophe. It proposes that the event can occasion rapid shifts in neoliberal metaphysical world picture, and exposes the multiplicity of the neoliberal thought collective. The notion of catastrophe might be more important in indicating a shift in regimes of government to one based on a knowledge of complex adaptive systems and the quality of resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]