Chile’s Chicago economists justified the junta on freedom and rights grounds, not just economics

Evidence

Rather than simply dismissing this claim, we should look more closely at the neoliberal idea of freedom, and the place of rights and law within it. This means departing from the standard story, according to which the neoliberals in Chile focused on their area of technical economic expertise while turning a blind eye to the repression necessary to implement their economic agenda. On the contrary, not even the most technical of the Chicago economists justified their work in Chile simply on economic grounds. Rather, they argued that the junta had saved Chile from a totalitarian regime, reversing a history of planning and state intervention and making possible individual freedom and human rights. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 308

Categorization

• XREF: Directly contradicts Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine framing that neoliberals stayed silent on repression — a key debate in the ethics-of-markets literature. — connects to: A Chicago economist publicly justified military rule as curing Latin American ‘romanticism’ — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 313; Chilean Chicago Boys saw authoritarianism as safeguarding market freedom from politics. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 327; Hayek distinguished authoritarian from totalitarian regimes to exempt Chile from criticism — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1590
• SEED: Angle: an essay on how human-rights discourse was itself a battleground the political right learned to wage, not just a leftist framing.

Broader Connections

• A Chicago economist publicly justified military rule as curing Latin American ‘romanticism’ #exemplifies (0.85) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 313
• Chilean Chicago Boys saw authoritarianism as safeguarding market freedom from politics. #expands (0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 327
• Hayek distinguished authoritarian from totalitarian regimes to exempt Chile from criticism #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1590