Neoliberal governance seeks managed borders, not borderless openness
Evidence
At the root of the neoliberal idea of international order is the notion of so-called competitive federalism, with the possibility of capital following opportunities across borders wherever they arise. In an exploration of neoliberal federalism, one scholar notes that the American Enterprise Institute set up a Federalism Project in 2000, pursuing Buchanan’s proposals from the 1990s to preserve “an effective exit option in market relationships.” An AEI resident scholar explained the vision of the project: “A world without borders is a world without exits. We need the exits.” These imaginaries are far from the borderless world or zero-state society in which neoliberals purportedly believed. What has been described in these pages is much less easy to dismiss as a fanciful delusion. More realistic and, at least in theory, more realizable, is ordoglobalism’s vision of a doubled world: divided and encased between imperium and dominium. — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 864
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines ‘competitive federalism’ and the ‘need exits’ logic that reverses the common assumption that neoliberals wanted a borderless world.
- XREF: Complicates the standard narrative in Wendy Brown’s Walled States, Waning Sovereignty about borders and neoliberal governance. — connects to: Right-wing neoliberals justify border closure through utility-of-human-capital logic — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 30; Neoliberal ‘freedom’ prioritized cross-border capital mobility over domestic welfare. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 423; Border control on labor movement is the constitutive logic of contemporary globalization — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 1206
- QUESTION: How does the ‘exit option’ logic square with present-day border enforcement against migrant workers, as opposed to capital?
Broader Connections
- Right-wing neoliberals justify border closure through utility-of-human-capital logic
#expands(0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 30 - Border control on labor movement is the constitutive logic of contemporary globalization
#corroborates(0.80) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 1206 - Neoliberal ‘freedom’ prioritized cross-border capital mobility over domestic welfare.
#expands(0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 423