The Mont Pèlerin network forged genuine consensus despite its internal disagreements.

Evidence

As Friedrich Hayek insisted in his opening address to the very first meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society on April 1, 1947, “Common work on the more detailed outline of a liberal order is practicable only among a group of people who are in agreement on fundamentals, and among whom certain basic principles are not questioned at every step.” There were struggles and even purges along the way (e.g., Hartwell 1995, chapter 5), but that should not disguise the fact that Mont Pèlerin did eventually forge agreement on some fundamentals. Indeed, we can and should come to appreciate the fact that the neoliberal project managed to converge over time on a shared political philosophy and worldview, despite the debates and struggles described in this volume. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2076

Categorization

• XREF: Directly answers the historiographical tension in the volume — a ‘coherence vs. disunity’ debate that parallels similar fights over the ‘Chicago School’ label. — connects to: Mont Pélerin members shared opposition to planning but disagreed on the positive vision — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 308; Mont Pèlerin members shared respect for prices but held fundamentally incompatible worldviews — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 277; Mont Pèlerin members privately conceded the state is unavoidable and only its share matters — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 84
• ADDENDUM: The ‘agreement on fundamentals while disagreeing on details’ model of an intellectual movement resonates with how sacrificial or sacrificial-adjacent ritual communities maintain coherence in ‘On Sacrifice’.

Broader Connections

• Mont Pélerin members shared opposition to planning but disagreed on the positive vision #expands (0.90) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 308
• Mont Pèlerin members shared respect for prices but held fundamentally incompatible worldviews #contradicts (0.85) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 277
• Mont Pèlerin members privately conceded the state is unavoidable and only its share matters #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 84