Röpke framed decolonization as an expansion of Western culture, not colonialism’s legacy

Evidence

Röpke then attacked the “narrow economism/technicism” of development economics, which he defined as a lack of consideration of a wide range of spiritual and moral as well as sociological questions (Röpke 1953, 71). Contrary to liberation theories, he considered decolonization—not colonization—as a historically unique expansion of Western culture around the world at the expense of traditional cultures. Although Western responsibility for the cruelties of colonialism and the prevailing misery in developing countries called for active sympathy, Röpke nevertheless counseled to meet the erroneous beliefs of leaders in developing countries with strong resistance and straightforward criticism (Röpke 1953, 74). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1285

Categorization

• SEED: A defensible article angle: how early neoliberals squared their market universalism with a civilizational defense of Western cultural expansion, and its echoes in later ‘end of history’ thinking.
• XREF: Röpke’s cultural defensiveness pairs with the book’s broader portrait of the early MPS as socially-conservative free marketeers.