Crises recurring across eras implies neoliberalism may not cause them

Evidence

The economist’s refrain of “this time is never different” (Rogoff and Reinhart, This Time Is Different) is taken to an extreme by Kean Birch, “Have We Ever Been Neoliberal?”: “If financial crises have happened before—and they have, repeatedly [see Roubini and Mihm, Crisis Economics]—then this would suggest that neoliberalism has and does not necessarily play a consequential role in the current crisis.” — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1787

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘have we ever been neoliberal?’ move is a rhetorical trope that could anchor an essay on how definitional fuzziness lets apologists dissolve critique.
• XREF: connects to: European fiscal crises were consequences of private banking crises, not their cause — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 205; Crises have not discredited neoliberal governance — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 749; Neoliberalism has a coherent crisis logic despite lacking fixed doctrine — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 146 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Crises have not discredited neoliberal governance #corroborates (0.95) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 749
• Harvard economist Miron deflected crisis causation toward timeless historical repetition #exemplifies (0.90) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 896
• Neoliberalism has a coherent crisis logic despite lacking fixed doctrine #qualifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 146
• Economic crises alone do not directly cause fundamental historical events #corroborates (0.78) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 766
• Crises of liberalism are not deducible from crises of capitalism. #corroborates (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 492
• Neoliberalism survives crises through deliberate policy adaptability, not fixed doctrine. #qualifies (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 206
• Neoliberalism transforms the self so that crises stop being read as system failures #contradicts (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 302
• Neoliberals reject market-failure theory, so they cannot see crisis as market glitch #complicates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 154
• Neoliberalism induces risk-bearing then blames the victims when risk fails #complicates (0.72) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 351
• Neoliberalism is a reprogramming of liberal governmentality, not a reaction to capitalist crisis #qualifies (0.72) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 83
• Neoliberalism’s deliberate epistemic inconsistencies enabled its long-term success #qualifies (0.72)