Neoliberalism or Regulatory Capitalism

Jacint Jordana and David Levi-Faur have provided systematic evidence that, since 1980, states have become rather more preoccupied with steering and less with rowing. Yet non-state regulation has grown even more rapidly, so it is not best to conceive of the era in which we live as one of the Regulatory State, but of Regulatory Capitalism. It is argued that Regulatory Capitalism is not about neoliberalism, indeed that those who think we are in an era of neoliberalism are mistaken. The corporatisation of the world is conceived as a product of regulation and the key driver of regulatory growth, indeed of state growth more generally. The reciprocal relationship between corporatisation and regulation creates a world in which there is more governance of all kinds.