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Apparently capitalism and neo-liberalism have elevated the market to a position of omnipotence as a spontaneously occurring best resources’ distributor. However, neo-liberalism as a philosophy that informs capitalism has always sparked divergent opinions as to its core spirit and practice. Neo-liberalism has always been netted into different perspectives. Although the consensual bottom-line of neo-liberalism philosophy is the free market, there is no consensus on its interpretation, contextualization and practices. As a whole, there is optimism in neo-liberalism the same as there is skepticism.Book Reviews 260 The varying perspectives and the challenges caused by the recent economic downturn have intensified interest to interrogate neo-liberalism in terms of theory- nexus-praxis. Whereas neo-liberalism suggests that the free market is the best allocator of resources in the economy, the actual practice does not seem to endorse this fact. Theory and practice of neo-liberalism on seem to be antithetical in this respect; some schools of thought point to neo-liberalism as the main culprit of the on-going economic recession. This title, then, is a timely and relevant contribution that attempts to bring a new line of thinking about neo-liberalism. The book makes an analysis of “the free market concept” as a cornerstone of neo- liberalism by gauging it on a scale to test its claimed spontaneity above social, economical and political environments. The test result presented by the authors shows that “the market” is a product of a society and is both shaping and being shaped by social and political conditions prevailing in a particular setting. Unlike the neoliberal claims that market is superior to the social conditions, the book suggests a view that social and institutional frameworks are paramount in shaping “the market”. As the title of the book suggests, the authors are promulgating the project of thinking beyond a common place that neo-liberalism is about the free market. They argue that neo-liberalism can be understood in full by inquiring about the extra-market factors in the sense that it is never omnipotent to the environments in which it resides. The authors contend that the institutional and social environment in which neo-liberalism operates are very vital in shaping its practice. Furthermore, the book contends that the market has never been free from the control of the state in terms of regulatory mechanisms and directives; rather the state’s control over the market and economy has been reconfigured to suit the time, people and space. There has never been “real freedom” of the market anywhere in the world as neoliberals would like to imply, but rather there have been a series of regulatory mechanisms to govern the market even in the purportedly top liberal countries such as the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. In that respect, claims that neo-liberalism is all about the free market, in the perspective of the authors, become a fallacy and lack logical validation. There are basic forces which operate in front and behind neo-liberalism which are responsible for shaping the free market that need to be recognized. Total disembodiment of the economy from its social mooring is impractical and at best unattainable, and if attempted, the economy becomes amenable to suffocation. This argument accentuates the point that attempts to disentangle the economy from its political and social basis is counterproductive and has detrimental consequences. The authors draw on evidence to support their argument by inferring the trend in the leading liberal market economies such as the USA which is currently moving towards a “neomanagerialism” style where the state is taking new role in directing the economy. Despite the fact that the USA has never at any point turned a blindCEU Political Science Journal. Vol. 8, No. 2 261 eyes to regulating its economy, the power of the US state in the economy after the 2007 recession is increasing significantly. The authors have, to a great extent, articulated the course of their argument by employing several concrete cases of the ways in which neo-liberalism is administered, particularly interesting being the analysis of the root-cause of the current economic recession and the subsequent efforts in combating the recession. The book is enriched with individual country cases for implementing neo liberal policy which substantiate the varied practices attributed to different social and political settings. To convey their message, they have thoughtfully employed the key arguments of the liberal scholars such as Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek while at the same times gauging their theoretical point of view against contending views of scholar like Karl Polanyi. The book used the concept of “embeddedness” to advance the argument that the market is not omnipotent, rather is the product of the society in which it resides. Furthermore, the orderly subdivision of the book into four parts is sequenced in a way to enable a reader to chronologically follow the development of neo liberalism as a concept, its coherence, practice and ultimately its prospects. The parts are systematically arranged in a way to drive home a point that “markets” are socially constructed and that the role of the state in the economy cannot be underestimated. Notwithstanding the pointed strengths in advancing their core argument, the empirical cases that the authors employ, despite the fact that they are plausible, are too droning as they restrict their scope to such limited cases as Australia, the USA and the United Kingdom. Based on the claim by neoliberals that “[T]here is no alternative“(TINA) to neo-liberalism globally, expanding the examination of neo- liberalism to cover a global scope in terms of its experience not only becomes desirable but an imperative. The book would have been more informative and a basis for generalization deliverd had it taken aboard the East Asian, Chinese, Latin American and African experiences in their endevour to embrace this dogma of the West. As a whole, the title is one of the useful pieces for researchers, scholars in international political economy, economists as well as policy makers of both newly democratizing countries and of countries which are at the threshold of “de- democratization” due to the consequences of neo-liberalism, if we are to take the conception of the free market as the centerpiece of liberal democracy. For anyone interested with the on-going economic conundrum, this title gives an interesting insight into this topical debate.