In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the belief that anything was now possible in the reshape and redesign of societies was widespread in the liberal capitalist and communist worlds. The role that planning had played in the victory over fascism was beyond doubt and politicians, intellectuals, planners and citizens in Europe, Asia, America and Africa saw the post war era as an opportunity to harness the power of the state to transform society. A fringe group of economists and thinkers saw this as creeping totalitarianism, but it would take three decades for their arguments to gain traction and to form the core of neoliberal orthodoxy.

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