ABSTRACT

Why, despite being contextualised alongside the Great Depression of the 1930s and inflation and growth crisis of the 1970s, did the Great Crash of 2008–2009 not exert a similarly transformative dynamic in dominant, neoliberal, economic ideas? Drawing on an agent-centred constructivism stressing the centrality of crisis construction and narration, yet with particular emphasis placed upon the incorporation of strategic processes of framing, this article provides fresh insights into the means by which key actors exercise their agency in attempts to ensure continuing adherence to, rather than fundamentally transforming, the status quo. This is explored with reference to macroeconomic policy assumptions in the IMF, an instance which provided all the pre-conditions for a widely interpreted moment of crisis, yet which nevertheless resulted in untransformed ideas and structures.

摘要

为什么尽管与 1930 年代的大萧条和 1970 年代的通货膨胀和增长危机并存，但 2008-2009 年的大崩盘没有在占主导地位的新自由主义经济思想中发挥类似的变革动力？本文借鉴以主体为中心的建构主义，强调危机构建和叙述的中心性，但特别强调纳入战略框架过程，本文提供了对关键行为者行使代理权的方式的新见解，以试图确保持续坚持而不是从根本上改变现状。参考国际货币基金组织的宏观经济政策假设对此进行了探讨，该实例为广泛解释的危机时刻提供了所有先决条件，