Synopses & Reviews
What exactly is neoliberalism, and where did it come from? This volume attempts to answer these questions by exploring neoliberalism's origins and growth as a political and economic movement.
Although modern neoliberalism was born at the "Colloque Walter Lippmann" in 1938, it only came into its own with the founding of the Mont Pèlerin Society, a partisan "thought collective," in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1947. Its original membership was made up of transnational economists and intellectuals, including Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi, and Luigi Einaudi. From this small beginning, their ideas spread throughout the world, fostering, among other things, the political platforms of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the Washington Consensus.
The Road from Mont Pèlerin presents the key debates and conflicts that occurred among neoliberal scholars and their political and corporate allies regarding trade unions, development economics, antitrust policies, and the influence of philanthropy. The book captures the depth and complexity of the neoliberal "thought collective" while examining the numerous ways that neoliberal discourse has come to shape the global economy.
Review
The Road from Mont Pèlerin uncovers and lays bare the origins of one of the most important political phenomena of our time--the development of the neoliberal discourse coalition that has come to shape the modern political economy. Frank Fischer, Rutgers University
Review
A fascinating and important book, one that speaks in radical, perceptive, and provocative ways to contemporary debates around neoliberalism. -- Frank Fischer, Rutgers University
Review
This excellent book contributes significantly to our understanding of the origins of neoliberalism and its transformation into political discourse and policy. -- Jamie Peck, University of British Columbia
Synopsis
What exactly is neoliberalism, and where did it come from? This volume attempts to answer these questions by exploring neoliberalism's origins and growth as a political and economic movement. The Road from Mont Pèlerin presents the key debates and conflicts that occurred among neoliberal scholars and their political and corporate allies regarding trade unions, development economics, antitrust policies, and the influence of philanthropy.
About the Author
Philip Mirowski is Carl Koch Professor of Economics and the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Notre Dame.Dieter Plehwe is a Senior Fellow at the Social Science Research Centre Berlin.
Social Science Research Centre Berlin
Table of Contents
- Introduction
Dieter Plehwe Part I. Origins of National Traditions
- French Neoliberalism and Its Divisions: From the Colloque Walter Lippmann to the Fifth Republic
François Denord - Liberalism and Neoliberalism in Britain, 1930–1980
Keith Tribe - Neoliberalism in Germany: Revisiting the Ordoliberal Foundations of the Social Market Economy
Ralf Ptak - The Rise of the Chicago School of Economics and the Birth of Neoliberalism
Philip Mirowski and Rob van Horn
Part II. Arguing out Strategies on Targeted Topics
- The Neoliberals Confront the Trades Unions
Yves Steiner - Reinventing Monopoly and the Role of Corporations: Chicago School of Law and Economics
Rob van Horn - The Origins of Neoliberal Economic Development Discourse
Dieter Plehwe - Business Conservatives and the Mont Pèlerin Society
Kim Phillips-Fein
Part III. Mobilizations for Action
- The Influence of Neoliberals in Chile before, during, and after Pinochet
Karin Fischer - Taking Aim at the New International Economic Order
Jennifer Bair - How Neoliberalism Makes a World: The Urban Property Project in Peru
Tim Mitchell
- Postface: Defining Neoliberalism
Philip Mirowski - Index