Neoliberals exploit emergency exceptions to bypass democratic accountability.
Evidence
Many of the components of the full-spectrum response can only be imposed in those special moments of “emergency” by a strong state, when all standard rule-governed activity is suspended. The neoliberals may preach the rule of law, and sneer in public about the ineptitude of government, but they win by taking advantage of “the exception” to introduce components of their program unencumbered by judicial or democratic accountability. We observe this happened during the global economic crisis, and fully expect to see it again upon onset of further climate catastrophe. It is here that it is most obvious that they take their Schmittian heritage to heart. They know what it means to never let a serious crisis go to waste. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 980
Categorization
- XREF: Directly connects to the reader’s existing knowledge of Schmitt’s state-of-exception theory and how ‘rule of law’ rhetoric coexists with extra-legal state power. — connects to: Neoliberals deliberately bypassed universities in favor of a closed, hand-picked elite society.; Crisis lets neoliberal officials arrogate sovereign power to define emergencies — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 945; Emergency laws that suspend the rule of law are core to neoliberal governance — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 44 (+3 more)
- DEEPTHINKING: The synthesis of free-market rhetoric with Schmittian executive prerogative is a counterintuitive core insight: neoliberalism’s public anti-statism conceals a deep reliance on strong-state emergency power.
Broader Connections
- Emergency laws that suspend the rule of law are core to neoliberal governance
#corroborates(0.95) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 44 - Neoliberal geopolitics froze time and controls territory through normalized exception
#expands(0.90) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1813 - Democratic states govern through a permanent state of exception rather than true crisis
#corroborates(0.85) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 363 - Neoliberal restructuring was imposed illegitimately and shielded from future democratic reversal.
#corroborates(0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 275