Neoliberalism is best understood as open questions with a constant goal

Evidence

Like other authors in this volume, I suggest that we might better understand neoliberalism not as a collection of foregone conclusions and formulae, let alone as the final chapter in human history, but as a set of open-ended problems and questions. Among the unresolved questions faced by neoliberals are those of culture (are all populations equally capable of rational market activity?), of design (can institutions and laws be made or must they grow?), of legitimacy (how can markets survive despite their frequent cruelty?), of leadership (can judges, autocrats, central bankers, or businesspeople offer reliable guardians of order?), and of democracy (can it be contained and directed or must it be escaped?). While the final goal of creating a competitive order immunized from popular demands for social justice remains constant over time, neoliberal strategies for arriving at the goal change considerably. A historical approach is necessary to avoid misidentifying the object of critique. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 162

Categorization

• XREF: This fracturing of the uniform-movement caricature is the analytical spine of the reader’s whole book-based project on neoliberal variety. — connects to: Neoliberalism’s scientific framing made knowledge and truth political questions — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 54; Neoliberalism is best understood as open problems, not fixed solutions — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 162; Neoliberalism is a contested but usable analytical category rather than a fixed ideology — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 15 (+8 more)
• DEFINE: Defines the alternative framing — those labeled as fixed-answer dogmatists actually operated with unresolved questions across culture, design, legitimacy, leadership, and democracy.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism is best understood as open problems, not fixed solutions #corroborates (0.90) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 162
• Neoliberalism is a mode of reason that is globally ubiquitous yet nonidentical with itself #corroborates (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 29
• Neoliberalism’s scientific framing made knowledge and truth political questions #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 54
• Neoliberalism is internally plural yet not formless #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 10
• Neoliberalism operates from a unified playbook despite surface variation #contradicts (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 917
• Neoliberalism is a contested but usable analytical category rather than a fixed ideology #corroborates (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 15
• Neoliberalism’s deliberate epistemic inconsistencies enabled its long-term success #qualifies (0.75)
• Neoliberalism reframed politics as an epistemological question of what can be known #expands (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 54
• Neoliberalism is a normative mode of reason, not merely an economic policy set #expands (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 80
• Neoliberalism’s knowledge limits are anti-positivist and extend beyond economics #expands (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 74
• Neoliberalism self-consciously planned as a multi-generational intellectual project #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 116