Neoliberalism’s core break with classical liberalism is its constructivist view of the state

Evidence

A doctrine as protean as neoliberalism resists simple definition, as noted by Dieter Plehwe in the Introduction; but a few salient features especially relevant to Chicago can be sketched here. The starting point of neoliberalism is the admission, contrary to classical liberalism, that its political program will triumph only if it acknowledges that the conditions for its success must be constructed, and will not come about “naturally” in the absence of concerted effort. This notion had direct implications for the neoliberal attitude toward the state, the outlines of what they deemed a correct economic theory, as well as the stance adopted toward political parties and other corporate entities that were the result of conscious organization, and not simply unexplained “organic” growths. In a phrase, “The Market” would not naturally conjure the conditions for its own continued flourishing, so neoliberalism is first and foremost a theory of how to reengineer the state in order to guarantee the success of the market and its most important participants, modern corporations. Neoliberals accept the (Leninist?) precept that they must organize politically to take over a strong government, and not simply predict it will “wither away.” — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 776

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise articulation of what distinguishes neoliberalism from classical liberalism: the admission that market conditions must be constructed, plus the quasi-Leninist imperative to capture the state.
• DEEPTHINKING: The central paradox — that free-market doctrine requires deliberate state engineering — is the load-bearing insight of the whole historiography; the (Leninist?) parenthetical is characteristically dense.
• SEED: Article angle: ‘The Leninist precept of the market’ — how Friedman and Chicago borrowed revolutionary organizational tactics their own ideology supposedly despised.
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberalism seeks to transform and take over the state, not shrink it — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 117; Neoliberalism’s purported state-skepticism actually mandates a strong state — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 238; French neoliberalism emerged from the double discrediting of classical liberalism and socialist planning. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 274 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism centered on a strong state, not the classical night-watchman state #expands (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2145
• Neoliberalism seeks to strengthen rather than shrink the state #corroborates (0.82) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2128
• Neoliberalism pivoted from the economy to the framework encasing it #expands (0.78) — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 88
• Neoliberalism broke sharply with prewar classical liberalism rather than continuing it #contradicts (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 778