Neoliberal reform in Chile depended on propaganda and a coercive military regime

Evidence

Piñera stressed the importance of propaganda work for the military, the staff of advisory bodies, and public servants in general, who needed to be cajoled to implement the reforms. He envisioned the transformation of the entire government into a huge university, featuring continuous conferences, educational meetings, and lectures for the military academies, all generating a high volume of papers (Piñera 1990, 1992; see also González-Rossetti et al. 2000). The neoliberal utopia of a society self-regulated by the market seemed to be just within reach, fostered of course by a military regime with absolute political power. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1585

Categorization

• SEED: The idea of transforming an entire government into a ‘huge university’ for continuous ideological training is a striking image — an essay on how regimes manufacture consent through forced pedagogy could open with Piñera’s vision.
• XREF: Connects to the Chilean ‘Chicago Boys’ story and the deliberate manufacture of a neoliberal common sense — parallels Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony as intellectual-moral leadership. — connects to: Neoliberalism’s Freiburg-school origins were anticartel and then mutated in Chile — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 764; Neoliberals needed Chile’s dictatorship to find the means to depoliticize economies. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 301; US regional hegemony drove Washington to sabotage Allende’s Chilean government — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 321 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Liberal austerity and fascist repression converged in a shared coercive project #corroborates (0.82) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1070