Neoliberalism seeks a strong state that thwarts democracy, not a weak one

Evidence

A primary ambition of the neoliberal project is to redefine the shape and functions of the state, not to destroy it. Neoliberals thus maintain an uneasy and troubled alliance with their sometimes fellow-travelers, the anarchists. The contradiction with which the neoliberals constantly struggle is that a strong state can just as easily thwart their program as implement it; hence they are inclined to explore new formats of techno-managerial governance that protect their ideal market from what they perceive as unwarranted political interference. Considerable efforts have been developed to disguise or otherwise condone in rhetoric and practice the importance of the strong state that neoliberals endorse in theory. As Peck puts it, the pursuit of neoliberal policies is “a self-contradictory form of regulation-in-denial.” One implication is that democracy, ambivalently endorsed as the appropriate state framework for an ideal market, must in any case be kept relatively impotent, so that citizen initiatives rarely are able to change much of anything. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 155

Categorization

• XREF: Peck’s ‘regulation-in-denial’ echoes the reader’s broader austerity/thought-collective thread and connects to Mirowski’s Hayek quote about liberal democracy versus totalitarian democracy elsewhere in the book. — connects to: Neoliberalism seeks to transform and take over the state, not shrink it — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 117; Neoliberalism seeks to strengthen rather than shrink the state — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 2128; Neoliberalism’s purported state-skepticism actually mandates a strong state — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 238 (+15 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The paradox — strong state that implements the market ideal while democracy kept impotent — is a dense, paradigm-shifting insight central to the whole book’s thesis, resistant to one-line summary.
• SEED: Angle for an essay: ‘regulation-in-denial’ as the explanatory frame for how austerity policies were imposed against majority will after 2008.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism seeks to strengthen rather than shrink the state #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2128
• Neoliberalism activates the state for the economy rather than withdrawing it. #corroborates (0.93) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 106
• Neoliberalism’s purported state-skepticism actually mandates a strong state #corroborates (0.92) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 238
• Neoliberal rhetoric evokes free markets while quietly relying on a strong state #corroborates (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 26
• 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
• Neoliberal limited government rhetoric coexists with a strong police and military state. #corroborates (0.86) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 166
• Neoliberalism strengthens repressive state apparatuses rather than shrinking government #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1748
• Neoliberalism’s weakening of democratic values enables neoconservative moralism and authoritarianism #expands (0.85) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 169
• Neoliberalism differs from laissez-faire liberalism by using state intervention to create competition #qualifies (0.80)