Neoliberal meetings expected contestation rather than consensus

Evidence

The culture of the meetings was one of open discussion without expectation of unanimity. Dialogue and contestation were expected. The fact that there was agreement on the new “Agenda of Liberalism” at the WLC actually surprised Louis Rougier, the WLC’s organizer, even if its substance was less than novel. The question of legitimate state intervention, in particular, had been mulled over many times before the WLC. At the ISC’s London meeting in 1933, for example, sessions dealt extensively with various “philosophical aspects of state intervention” as well as “practical aspects of state intervention.” — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 371

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s aim of fracturing the caricature of a monolithic, conspiratorial neoliberalism — matches the internal-debates theme already evident in other chapters of this volume. — connects to: Neoliberalism’s public rhetoric of open liberalism contradicted its actual closed, hierarchical organization — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 200; Neoliberal conference networks gradually shifted elite policy thinking before crises forced action — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 444; International economic conference ‘consensus’ was really a consensus on austerity — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 672 (+3 more)
• QUESTION: The substance of the ‘Agenda of Liberalism’ is called ‘less than novel’ — worth chasing what specifically it recycled and what (if anything) was genuinely new.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism’s public rhetoric of open liberalism contradicted its actual closed, hierarchical organization #corroborates (0.78) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 200