Foucault frames neoliberalism as a remaking of liberal governmentality rather than an economic break

Evidence

Against the conventional story, Foucault’s formulation of neoliberalism as a remaking of the liberal art of government is able to reveal the slow transformation of liberal into neoliberal formations, neoliberalism’s continuities with and modifications of liberal political and economic theory; neoliberalism’s nonunified character, even at its inception; the commonalities that nonetheless bind this modality of thought, governance, and reason into an identifiable and nameable one; and neoliberalism’s cohabitation with certain other political rationalities, what he calls “a series of governmental rationalities [that] overlap, lean on each other, challenge each other, and struggle with each other: art of government according to truth … according to the rationality of the sovereign state … according to the rationality of economic agents … and according to the rationality of the governed themselves.” — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 87

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the core definitional shift: neoliberalism as a modality of political rationality and government, not merely economic policy.
• XREF: Connects to the book’s overall thesis that formulates neoliberalism as political rationality eroding democracy — this is the theoretical pivot. — connects to: Neoliberal homo oeconomicus dissolves the citizen-bourgeois split that defined liberal democratic political life. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 546; Neoliberalism is a reprogramming of liberal governmentality, not a reaction to capitalist crisis — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 83; Foucault’s account of neoliberalism missed its transnational and postnational dimensions — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 144 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal governability extends beyond what Foucault imagined through maximum freedom #expands (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 215
• Foucault’s lectures were not a neo-Marxist critique of neoliberalism #corroborates (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 94
• Foucault’s account of neoliberalism missed its transnational and postnational dimensions #qualifies (0.82) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 144
• Neoliberalism is a caricature of liberalism reduced to a theory of economic organization #contradicts (0.78) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2121
• Foucault’s political coordinates cannot capture neoliberalism’s effects on democracy #qualifies (0.78) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 146
• Neoliberalism was only emergent in Foucault’s time, not yet hegemonic #qualifies (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 90