The monograph ANATOMY OF THE NEOLIBERAL WORLD ORDER presents a critical analysis of contemporary social processes from the perspective of a critique of neoliberalism, which has established itself as the defining political and economic paradigm of our time. Neoliberalism as a theory sounds seductive and convincing, but when one moves from the domain of theory to the level of practice, one can see that its basic assumptions are valid only to a certain extent. Namely, they are valid as long as the “real people” benefit and as long as these same people do not encounter any obstacles in their efforts. Otherwise, such respected ideals as democracy and the free market are suddenly pushed aside. In such cases, neoliberal theory takes on neo-imperial practice.
The monograph continues the successful collaboration with Professor Alain Badiou, which was established during the writing of the book entitled POLITICAL MYTHS OF NEOLIBERALISM, published by the Institute for Political Studies in 2017. Therefore, we are very honored that Professor Badiou, as one of the most famous and influential intellectuals of our time, agreed to interview us again for the preface to our book. We also thank Professor Isabelle Vodoz, who was of great help to us during our correspondence with Professor Badiou, as well as my colleague Dr. Dejana Vukasović, who selflessly helped this communication to be realized with her knowledge of French.
The scientific significance of the monograph stems from the topicality of the problem it deals with, but also from the need to improve the theoretical-analytical approach to the critical analysis of the phenomenon of neoliberalism in domestic sociology, political science, and social sciences in general. This monograph primarily aims to point out that by establishing neoliberalism as a guarantor of freedom and democracy in modern society, its true essence is skillfully hidden, i.e. that it actually enables the emergence of neo-imperialism and neo-colonialism.
The processes of modernization, globalization, transition, individualization, numerous social conflicts, constantly changing power relations at the global level, as well as numerous other processes, greatly complicate the understanding of the contemporary world order. This is precisely the social significance of the monograph, because it enables a better understanding of the geopolitical situation in the world and the region, and in order to overcome the challenges faced by the Republic of Serbia in the process of international integration. At the same time, it should be emphasized that the monograph does not claim to offer ready-made answers to the challenges of contemporary society, but rather that by constantly asking questions, it leaves the readers to ultimately make their own judgment about them.
Given that the monograph deals with a very complex topic, the authors used a multidisciplinary approach (sociology, political science, security, history, etc.) while simultaneously applying a large number of methods. The authors used the geopolitical method as the basic method of the monograph. This method is particularly important for understanding the issues that this work deals with, primarily because it allows for a view of the cause-and-effect relationship between geography and politics from the perspective of different interests of significant actors in the context of international relations. Considering that the problem of the monograph is a multidimensional phenomenon, the application of analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalization as general scientific methods is certainly inevitable. The work also uses content analysis, historical, geographical and comparative methods.
