Interwar liberal revivalists saw laissez-faire itself as a dogmatic mystique

Evidence

Rougier began to put forward a more explicit agenda in his article “Retour au libéralisme” in the Revue de Paris at the beginning of 1938 and a book, Les mystiques économiques, that followed months later. These two texts lament the apparent devolution of po liti cal debate to a choice between fascism and communism, both of which he perceived to renounce the advantages of a liberal system: namely, the division of labor, the circulation of capital, the cosmopolitanism of culture, the dignity of the individual conceived as an end, the security provided by a stable judicial system, the free choice of consumers, and the freedom of thought. … He shared Lippmann’s belief that new economic solutions would require overcoming a static adoption of laissezfaire, which he labeled “la mystique libérale.” — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 177

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘la mystique libérale’ — the key conceptual move of treating laissez-faire as itself a dogma that a revived liberalism must transcend.
• XREF: Contrasts with the common assumption that neoliberal thought simply revived classical laissez-faire; connects to the reader’s advanced interest in precise definitions of the term. — connects to: Laissez-faire doctrine originated with popularizers, not the classical economists; Marxism degenerated into economism by fusing with laissez-faire liberalism — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 709; Interwar British liberalism re-founded itself on economics rather than politics — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 395 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Early neoliberals explicitly distanced themselves from classical laissez-faire doctrine #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 117
• Marxism degenerated into economism by fusing with laissez-faire liberalism #complicates (0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 709
• The term ‘neoliberal’ was adopted deliberately to distance liberalism from pure laissez-faire #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 279
• Early neoliberalism emerged partly from a critique of laissez-faire and naturalist philosophies of history #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 379
• Interwar British liberalism re-founded itself on economics rather than politics #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 395