Neoliberalism is a novel doctrine in flux, not a return to laissez-faire

Evidence

The defeat of the proposal to return to the nineteenth-century model of the gold standard offers strong evidence that neoliberalism itself was and is not simply the return of laissez-faire or classical liberalism reborn but a genuinely novel response to changed circumstances. Yet even here the process of creating a common internal opinion was not absolute. As later developments demonstrated, the losing side remained relevant in debates on a monetary union in Western Europe (which was similarly divisive in neoliberal circles) and in discussions about currency boards and dollarization in the Global South. Thus, the debate over monetary order demonstrates both the existence of divergent epistemic communities within the thought collective of the MPS, and also the fact that their commitment to a set of core values still held the group together. It offers an insight into neoliberal thought as a doctrine in a constant process of becoming, not emerging from whole cloth in founding texts of the movement but constantly reworked according to shifting conditions. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 439

Categorization

• XREF: This is the core thesis fracturing the crude ‘neoliberalism = classical liberalism reborn’ caricature, central to the reader’s stated purpose for this book. — connects to: Neoliberals do not practice the laissez-faire they preach to the public.; Neoliberalism may not cohere as a unified doctrine in actual practice. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 185; Neoliberalism was initially a self-declared identity, not an external label — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 364 (+16 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The closing claim — a thought collective held together by core values while hosting divergent internal epistemic communities — reframes how to study any doctrine, far beyond economics.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism was a flexible project, not a fixed doctrine with essential content #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 115
• Neoliberalism is a self-consciously evolving thought collective, not a fixed catechism #qualifies (0.72) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 141