The New Political Economy-A Critical Analysis

A Critical Analysis Biplab Dasgupta The literature on new political economy is vast and steadily growing and as one would expect, veering round the main theme are interesting variations and subtle and not too subtle differences within the school, Some describe it as neo-classical economic theory of politics, others specifically as a political cousin of structural adjustment, setting out political preconditions for its success. And to yet others it is a cocktail of the Marxist concept of the state without its class analysis and with the Liptonian theory of urban bias thrown and blended with neo-classical economics. Whatever the viewpoint the fact remains that the new political economy provides a powerful justification for the structural adjustment package of the World Bank. This paper presents an outline of the ideas emanating from this school of thought and attempts a political-economic analysis of new political economy itself Introduction WHILE the structural adjustment package, sponsored by the World Bank, has been subjected to a close scrutiny by the Indian researchers, the new political economy (NPE), which provides its theoretical basis, seems to have gone unnoticed. The main objective of this paper is to present an outline of the main ideas emanating from this school of thought and then, to subject those to a critical examination.