Neoliberalism endorses wide state action to construct markets, not laissez-faire.

Evidence

The neoliberal rejection of politics did not entail a rejection of government intervention or an advocacy of laissez-faire; on the contrary, it implied what Bauer termed ‘state action on a wide scale’. Rewriting Adam Smith’s invisible hand, Bauer stressed the necessity to devise suitable institutions to harness selfish interests to the general interest. The premise of neoliberal thought was that the institutional structure profoundly influences the operation of the economic system, and ‘does not arise from the operation of the system itself’. Neoliberalism countenanced a significant role for state action in relation to the market, as Foucault noted; but this action served to secure the conditions for the market, not to compensate for its effects. What Foucault missed, as he prepared his lectures on neoliberalism, was the extent to which the new interventionist politics of human rights, which fascinated him at the time, shared in the dominant ‘state phobia’ (which conflated state welfarism with totalitarianism) that he portrayed as his time’s inheritance from a previous generation of neoliberals. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 431

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Foucault’s lectures on the birth of biopolitics; ‘state phobia’ framing parallels the Israel Kirzner/Hayek themes in the reader’s collection. — connects to: Markets are political projects, not natural outcomes of state removal — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 266; Neoliberals do not practice the laissez-faire they preach to the public.; Neoliberalism seeks to transform and take over the state, not shrink it — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 117 (+17 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies that the state’s proper role is securing conditions for the market, not compensating for its effects.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism is activist constructivism, not laissez-faire passivity. #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2125
• Neoliberalism differs from laissez-faire liberalism by using state intervention to create competition #expands (0.92)
• Neoliberalism seeks to strengthen rather than shrink the state #corroborates (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2128
• 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
• Neo-liberalism’s real objective is the market’s formalization of the state and society #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 678
• Neoliberalism is a novel doctrine in flux, not a return to laissez-faire #corroborates (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 439
• Neoliberalism reversed the state’s protective role toward shielding markets #expands (0.80) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 745
• Neoliberal rhetoric evokes free markets while quietly relying on a strong state #qualifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 26