Neoliberalism activates the state for the economy rather than withdrawing it.

Evidence

Above all, it means uncoupling the market economy from the political principle of laissez-faire, and here lies the radicalism of Foucault’s scholarly intervention into the political debates that would unfold in the decade following his lectures. Neoliberalism is not about the state leaving the economy alone. Rather, neoliberalism activates the state on behalf of the economy, not to undertake economic functions or to intervene in economic effects, but rather to facilitate economic competition and growth and to economize the social, or, as Foucault puts it, to “regulate society by the market.” — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 106

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: debunking the ‘deregulation’ myth — neoliberalism demands aggressive state participation, just deployed differently than welfare-state intervention.
• XREF: Directly contradicts the common ‘hands-off state’ reading of neoliberalism; connects to structural adjustment and austerity-state scholarship. — connects to: A capitalist planned economy was economically viable, blocked only by political will — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 484; German ordoliberalism favors state framework provision over neoliberal state withdrawal. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 164; Neoliberalism seeks to transform and take over the state, not shrink it — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 117 (+21 more)

Broader Connections

• The neoliberal state governs for the market, not because of it. #corroborates (0.95) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 111
• Neoliberalism endorses wide state action to construct markets, not laissez-faire. #corroborates (0.93) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 431
• Neoliberalism seeks to strengthen rather than shrink the state #corroborates (0.92) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2128
• The economy functions as model, object, and project of neoliberal state rationality. #expands (0.90) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 107
• Neoliberalism centered on a strong state, not the classical night-watchman state #corroborates (0.88) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2145
• Neoliberalism strengthens repressive state apparatuses rather than shrinking government #corroborates (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1748