Chilean neoliberals founded think tanks to preserve their influence after losing power

Evidence

The members of the neoliberal team had to vacate most of their posts at the center of power, but they carried on their economic careers, filling important positions in corporations and civil society (see Table 9.3). They developed major activities in the academic world, the media, and international advisory services. Especially important was the establishment of private universities and think tanks. Three weeks after the installation of the first democratic government and his electoral defeat, Hernán Büchi, together with his MPS colleagues Cristián Larroulet and Carlos Cáceres, founded the Instituto Libertad y Desarrollo (ILD). The new partisan think tank soon became the “flagship in the battle of ideas.” It covered a wide spectrum of activities ranging from opinion polls, academic publications, and commentaries in the media to conferences and seminars, all designed to influence public opinion in lasting ways. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1610

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on how neoliberal policy entrepreneurs pivoted to think-tank and civil-society influence after electoral defeats — parallels the ATP’s analysis of extralegal and soft-power institutional persistence. — connects to: Neoliberals needed Chile’s dictatorship to find the means to depoliticize economies. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 301; Partisan think tanks converted neoliberal philosophy into practical political tools. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1912; A foreign-funded think tank inserted itself directly into Peruvian policymaking — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1950 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Ousted neoliberal officials retained power through think tanks and civil society #expands (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1616
• Neoliberal think tanks were standardized through explicit managerial blueprinting #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 580