Some neoliberals explicitly embraced empire as a model for global economic order.

Evidence

For the road to world economic integration, Willgerodt looked both ahead and back: “The path to the liberation of the world market from national regulation and trade barriers can be facilitated by institutions like GATT [General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade].” But he also invoked the old template of Hayek and Mises: Central Eu­ro­pean empire: “The international rule of law with curbed application of sovereignty is doubtless a difficult and unfamiliar idea for the proponents of centralist national states. The state must first forego authority over its citizens. It must also share its sovereignty downward with federal structures and bind itself upward within an international ­legal community. No doubt the international order is moving in this direction. It is in this context that the distorted judgment about the order of the long-­lived Holy Roman Empire must be taken up again.” … Such literal nostalgia for empire was rare. Another notable exception, though, was Mont Pèlerin Society (MPS) president Deepak Lal, who, inspired by the U.S. invasion of Af­ghan­i­stan and Iraq in the name of liberal democracy, wrote a paean to empire in 2004 for its ability to bring order, institute the rule of law, and “quell ethnic conflicts.” He began by eulogizing the Habsburg Empire, condemning “the ­great deterioration of opportunities that has befallen the average citizen of the successor states.” — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 858

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with the common assumption that neoliberalism is anti-empire and fully nationalist; connects to broader historiography on liberalism’s imperial entanglements. — connects to: Neoliberals reframed Schmitt’s critique as a positive blueprint for world order. — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the…, 51; Neoliberals redefined imperialism as an effect of politicising the economy, not of capitalist expansion. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 231; Neoliberals pursued an engineered order rather than expecting free markets to emerge naturally — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1907 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberals argued that politicizing the economy, not capitalism, caused imperialism. #expands (0.90) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 434
• Neoliberals redefined imperialism as an effect of politicising the economy, not of capitalist expansion. #expands (0.88) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 231
• Neoliberals idealized the British free-trade empire as a postnational frame #exemplifies (0.85) — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 334
• Neoliberals wanted an international order forcing anti-inflationary policy onto states #expands (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 425
• Neoliberals pursued an engineered order rather than expecting free markets to emerge naturally #expands (0.82) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1907
• Neoliberal theorists could recast imperialism as a civilizing expansion of legal order. #exemplifies (0.82) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1307
• Neoliberal structural adjustment replaced postwar modernization as imperial policy #qualifies (0.80)
• Neoliberalism replaced modernization as the Clinton-era imperial model #qualifies (0.78)
• Neoliberals captured global financial institutions to discipline nation-states #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2131