Question

A spectre is haunting the world, just as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto of 1848. This time, however, it is not the spectre of communism but that of neoliberalism. Just as Marx and Engels reported of 'a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre,' there is once again an alliance, whether holy or unholy, that has formed to chase the ghost of neoliberalism from the world stage. In any case, it is a curious alliance that has committed to fighting neoliberalism: Religious leaders and artists, environmental activists and globalisation critics, politicians of the left and the right as well as trade unionists, commentators and academics. They all share a passion to unmask neoliberalism as an inhuman, anti-social, and potentially misanthropic ideology or as a cynical exercise by strangely anonymous forces that wish to exploit the world to their own advantage.

The members of this colourful alliance against neoliberalism are as united in their opposition to neoliberalism as they are diverse. This suggests that neoliberalism cannot be too clearly defined as a concept. Rather, it is a broad umbrella under which very different groups with various points of view can meet. In the church of anti-neoliberalism, there is a place for anyone who believes that neoliberalism stands in the way of reaching his or her political goals. This may also explain the lack of any clear and coherent definition of neoliberalism among its dissenters.

Yet the most curious characteristic of neoliberalism is the fact that these days hardly anyone self-identifies as a neoliberal. In former times, ideological debates were fought between, say, conservatives and socialists, collectivists and individualists. While there may not have been any other agreement between these opposing groups, at least they would have agreed about their respective identities. A socialist would not have felt offended by a conservative calling him a socialist and vice-versa. In present-day debates around neoliberalism, on the other hand, most accused of holding 'neoliberal' views would not accept being called 'neoliberal.' Either they would insist on being something else (whether it is 'liberal,' 'classical liberal,' or 'libertarian'), or they would simply claim to be misunderstood by their opponents. In any case, scarcely anybody wants to be a 'neoliberal' any more. For example, in an online survey of the readers of Andrew Norton's blog, out of more than 1,200 participants not a single person self-identified with the term, while 'classical liberal,' 'conservative,' and 'libertarian' were strong responses. These are strange debates indeed when the enemy you are fighting claims he does not exist.

Q77. The word 'libertarian' used in the passage can be best substituted with:

• A. Neoliberal
• B. Libertine, immoral
• C. Conservative
• D. Liberal, favouring individual liberty

Hint:

Notice which words the passage groups libertarian together with.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

This is a vocabulary in context question, libertarian needs to be replaced by the option that carries the same sense it has in the passage, where it appears alongside liberal and classical liberal as labels people use instead of neoliberal.

1. A. Neoliberal: this is exactly the label the passage says people reject. The sentence lists liberal, classical liberal, and libertarian as the alternatives people insist on being called instead of neoliberal, so replacing libertarian with neoliberal would contradict the passage's own point.
2. B. Libertine, immoral: this confuses libertarian with the unrelated word libertine. A libertine refers to someone with no moral restraint, which has nothing to do with the political sense of individual liberty the passage is using.
3. C. Conservative: the passage lists conservative separately from libertarian, in the Andrew Norton blog survey it mentions classical liberal, conservative, and libertarian were strong responses, treating them as three distinct labels people chose. Since the passage itself keeps them apart, conservative cannot be the correct substitute for libertarian.
4. D. Liberal, favouring individual liberty: a libertarian is someone who prioritizes individual liberty and limited interference, which is consistent with how the term sits next to liberal and classical liberal throughout the passage, all describing people who favour personal and economic freedom rather than accepting the neoliberal label.

Option D is the only choice that captures the actual political meaning of libertarian as used in the passage, someone who favours individual liberty, without confusing it for a different word or for one of the other distinct labels the passage lists separately.

Let's summarize:

• Watch out for sound-alike traps like libertine when a passage uses a less common word like libertarian.
• Context clues here come from the company libertarian keeps, alongside liberal and classical liberal, not alongside conservative as a synonym.

The correct answer is option D, liberal, favouring individual liberty.