Ousted neoliberal officials retained power through think tanks and civil society

Evidence

Sergio de Castro was made the scapegoat and his public reputation suffered, but that was not allowed to interfere with the commitment to the overall economic model and to the dominance of the community of neoliberal economists. He took part in the selection of his successors and shortly thereafter again played an important role in debt negotiations and policy formulation. His staying power is further revealed by the fact that Sergio de Castro, the intellectual leader of the 1970s, and Rolf Lüders, the manager of the crisis, shared a common ideological home: they both joined the Mont Pélerin Society in 1982. … When ousted from their state positions, the neoliberal protagonists continued their work from within civil society: provided with channels of communication, think tanks, and public reputation, they continue to influence the transformation of contemporary Chile. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1616

Categorization

• XREF: Directly evidences the book’s central thesis about the Mont Pèlerin network and how its members maintained influence when removed from formal office — also parallels the ‘revolving door’ pattern of later policy networks. — connects to: Mandate-system administrators directly shaped the postwar neoliberal movement — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 88; Billionaire-backed radical-right networks manipulate politics through clandestine think tanks. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1768; Partisan think tanks converted neoliberal philosophy into practical political tools. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1912 (+3 more)
• FICTION: The image of a disgraced technocrat quietly shaping policy after public disgrace is a rich character arc for fiction.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism triumphed through fringe think tanks, not academic economics #qualifies (0.82) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 377