The NIEO threat spurred the neoliberal counterrevolution in development policy

Evidence

Although the relationship between the defeat of the NIEO and the triumph of neoliberalism has received little scholarly attention, John Toye, in an exception to this general neglect, argues that “the threat of an NIEO, particularly one imposed by the South and supported on moral grounds by influential public opinion in the North, acted as a strong spur to the counterrevolution in development policy” (Toye 1993, 180). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1733

Categorization

• QUESTION: Toye’s causal claim — that the South’s demand for a new economic order provoked the neoliberal turn — is worth chasing. This is a reversal of the usual story that sees the NIEO as a casualty of debt crisis.
• SEED: This is a strong essay hook: the defeated movement that manufactured its own opposition. The NIEO’s own moral-south challenge may have armed the very intellectuals who buried it.
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberals rebranded market restrictions as human rights abuses to contest the NIEO. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 429; Neoliberal advocacy outlasted the NIEO’s political viability as a threat — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1751; Neoliberal development thought predated and coexisted with left-wing theories rather than countering them — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1266 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal advocacy outlasted the NIEO’s political viability as a threat #qualifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1751
• Neoliberal development thought predated and coexisted with left-wing theories rather than countering them #contradicts (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1266
• The Third World debt crisis secured neoliberalism’s victory in development discourse #complicates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1816