Flexibility, not a fixed policy list, defines the neoliberal program’s core

Evidence

The story of intellectual property offers evidence that there is no trans-historical set of policy prescriptions within neoliberal thought prone to summary in the Washington Consensus or any other bullet-point list. In fact, the end goal of a competitive order requires flexibility by its very nature. Part of the capacity of neoliberalism to survive a series of what should have been existential crises must be credited to the adaptability of its basic policy prescriptions. Because neoliberals believe that markets are not natural but made possible through human intervention, they also believe that different circumstances require different solutions. Precisely because the unpredictability of capitalist evolution is an article of faith for neoliberals of the Hayekian variety, there can be no final blueprint. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 206

Categorization

• XREF: Directly counters the Washington Consensus bullet-point caricature of neoliberalism this book aims to fracture. — connects to: Neoliberalism was a flexible project, not a fixed doctrine with essential content — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 115; Neoliberalism is an interventionist flexible policy approach, not a laissez-faire orthodoxy — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 22; Neoliberalism centrally requires a strong state, not state retreat — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 17 (+9 more)
• APHORISMS: The claim that adaptability to circumstances rather than a fixed blueprint defines a competitive-order program is a transferable insight beyond economics.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism was a flexible project, not a fixed doctrine with essential content #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 115
• Neoliberalism operates from a unified playbook despite surface variation #contradicts (0.95) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 917
• Neoliberalism survives crises through deliberate policy adaptability, not fixed doctrine. #corroborates (0.90) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 206
• Neoliberalism is an interventionist flexible policy approach, not a laissez-faire orthodoxy #exemplifies (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 22
• Neoliberalism criticism often treats it as a fixed plan rather than a problem set #corroborates (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 160
• Neoliberalism centrally requires a strong state, not state retreat #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 17
• The Washington Consensus caricatures neoliberalism as a fixed policy recipe #qualifies (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 160
• Contingency explanations of policy fall short when key actors were doctrinaire neoliberals #complicates (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 205
• Neoliberalism is a normative mode of reason, not merely an economic policy set #expands (0.80) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 80
• Flexibility is an ideological norm, not a neutral description #complicates (0.75)
• Neoliberalism seeks to transform and take over the state, not shrink it #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 117
• Neoliberalism seeks to capture and reconstruct the strong state, not shrink it #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 117