The neoliberal state governs for the market, not because of it.

Evidence

If, for neoliberals, economic competition is essential (an eidos, Foucault calls it at one point) and valuable, but not natural, then it must be continuously supported and corrected from outside, and this need defines one of the crucial functions of the neoliberal state. Government intervenes to produce and reproduce competition, to facilitate or restore it. Again, nature is the province of classical liberalism, hence the importance of laissez-faire to its theorists. By contrast, convention, intervention, and even subvention are all key to neoliberalism. The “juridical gives form to the economic,” Foucault says of neoliberalism. 41 “Government must accompany the market from start to finish,” he adds. However, what distinguishes neoliberalism from liberalism here is that the state must “govern for the market, not because of the market.” — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 111

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘govern for the market, not because of the market’ formula crystallizes how austerity packages and competitiveness rankings (WEF, OECD) reorient state purpose — connects to Brown’s broader project and to political economy of the state. — connects to: Ricardo held that the state must neither cushion market adjustments nor redistribute property. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 309; The market must be actively constituted by political intervention, not discovered — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1852; Neoliberals do not practice the laissez-faire they preach to the public. (+21 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism endorses wide state action to construct markets, not laissez-faire. #expands (0.85) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 431
• Neoliberal ‘economic rights’ protect capital’s market freedom, not welfare entitlements. #corroborates (0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 430
• Neoliberals pursued an engineered order rather than expecting free markets to emerge naturally #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1907
• Neoliberal competition is a constructed formal game, not a natural state. #expands (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 110
• Neoliberalism is a reprogramming of liberal governmentality, not a reaction to capitalist crisis #responds-to (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 83