Neoliberalism was born in part as an emergency response to the 1938 crisis atmosphere.

Evidence

In the ensuing weeks Rougier successfully persuaded Lippmann not to avoid future mutual endeavors, and in mid- July he sent a circular notice to potential participants in a conference centering on a discussion of Lippmann’s The Good Society that he had scheduled for late August. The proposed “Conférence Walter Lippmann” (later formally christened the “Colloque Walter Lippmann”) would be designed “to discuss the principal theses of this work relative to the decline of liberalism and to the conditions of a return to a renovated liberal order distinct from Manchester laissez faire.” … Before Lippmann returned to America, and with a sense that the window of opportunity for effective action was rapidly closing, Rougier hoped to have established a formal program for future work on the creation of a new and constructive liberalism. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 182

Categorization

• DEFINE: Pinpoints the founding of the ‘Colloque Walter Lippmann’ — the seed gathering for the neoliberal movement.
• QUESTION: Worth tracing how the specific timing (late August 1938, weeks before Munich) shaped the movement’s sense of urgency.
• XREF: connects to: Crisis lets neoliberal officials arrogate sovereign power to define emergencies — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 945; The neoliberal thought collective crafted the government-caused-crisis narrative as the dominant right-wing explanation. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 876; The term ‘neoliberalism’ was coined at the 1938 Colloque Walter Lippmann — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 775 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The term ‘neoliberalism’ was coined at the 1938 Colloque Walter Lippmann #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 775
• Crisis lets neoliberal officials arrogate sovereign power to define emergencies #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 945
• The neoliberal thought collective crafted the government-caused-crisis narrative as the dominant right-wing explanation. #qualifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 876
• Early neoliberals were mainstream in 1939 but marginal by 1945 #qualifies (0.70) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 405