Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism

George Monbiot traces the origins of neoliberalism from the 1947 Mont Pelerin Society to its current status as an invisible global orthodoxy. The book identifies how thinkers like Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman redefined human competition as the only legitimate measure of value. Monbiot explains the mechanics of privatization, deregulation, and the intentional weakening of labor unions. He documents how this specific economic framework fueled the 2008 financial crisis, accelerated wealth inequality, and dismantled public infrastructure while rebranding corporate interests as individual freedom.

Political activists, economists, and voters read this book to identify the ideological source of contemporary social instability. Readers learn to recognize neoliberal rhetoric in policy debates regarding healthcare, education, and taxation. The text provides a toolkit for understanding how market logic colonized non-market spaces. By the end, the reader possesses a clear historical timeline of how these economic ideas became dominant and gains a practical vocabulary for proposing alternative systems that prioritize public well-being over private capital accumulation.