Neoliberalism is an interventionist flexible policy approach, not a laissez-faire orthodoxy

Evidence

By definition, theories that postulate free or pure markets per se are not neoliberal, and it is easy for neoliberals to point to the need for the right set of institutions, politics, and nowadays even behavior to allow markets to operate relatively freely, and, more importantly, to set market forces free. The charge of “one size fits all” fails in the face of the documentable shifts in neoliberal approaches to policy problems. Our case studies show that neoliberalism is less a policy orthodoxy than a consistent approach to policy problems. … To adapt the famous legal maxim of Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, neoliberals hold that the market lives by prerequisites it cannot guarantee itself. Rather than operate with a belief in the “magic” of a putatively “natural” market, neoliberals are avowed interventionists of their own kind, rethinking policies according to context and showing both a capacity for improvisation and an attitude of flexible response. If the end goal remains constant—safeguarding what neoliberals call a competitive order and exposing humanity ever more to the compulsions of adjustment according to the price mechanism—the means of arriving at this goal shift with time and place. Only by understanding this flexibility do the nine lives of neoliberalism become explainable. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 22

Categorization

• DEFINE: Operational definition: consistent approach to policy problems with shifting means and constant end of competitive order.
• DEEPTHINKING: Holds the whole book’s thesis: flexible means toward the constant end of competitive-order survival is what explains the movement’s nine lives.
• XREF: Links to Böckenförde’s liberal-state paradox and to other scholars (Slobodian) framing neoliberalism as technocratic governance rather than state withdrawal. — connects to: Neoliberalism is a mutable thought collective, not a fixed market-fundamentalist creed — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 141; Leading neoliberals blamed regulation and inaction rather than their own policy failures — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 22; Neoliberalism requires active state intervention to build competitive order, unlike laissez-faire. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 44 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism differs from laissez-faire liberalism by using state intervention to create competition #expands (0.95)
• Neoliberalism is a novel doctrine in flux, not a return to laissez-faire #corroborates (0.92) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 439
• Neoliberalism is activist constructivism, not laissez-faire passivity. #corroborates (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2125
• Neoliberalism defined itself as a middle path between laissez-faire and planning #corroborates (0.88) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 38
• 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 rejects laissez-faire in favor of perpetual constructionist state intervention #expands (0.82) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 148
• Neoliberalism centered on a strong state, not the classical night-watchman state #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2145
• Neoliberalism is best understood as open problems, not fixed solutions #corroborates (0.72) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 162
• Neoliberalism is a self-consciously evolving thought collective, not a fixed catechism #corroborates (0.72) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 141