Neoliberalism and Laissez-Faire 1

This chapter starts by restating the core theoretical differences between liberalism and neoliberalism, most essentially concerning the principle of the active or positive state that I have claimed characterizes neoliberal governmentality, premised upon a distinction between naturalistic and anti-naturalistic views of state functioning and entailing the abandonment or severe qualification of laissez-faire. Of the differences between liberal and neoliberal government, I will recommit to my original thesis of the distinction between the positive state and the erosion of laissez-faire, as well as to the distinction between naturalism and anti-naturalism as being important to understanding the two variants of liberalism and to understanding as well the anti-democratic tendencies of the neoliberal variant. Here I will maintain that the key neoliberals in a theoretical sense are the European ordo liberals, such as Walter Eucken and Wilhelm Ropke, as well as US writers such as James Buchanan (Public Choice theory) and Henry Simons, while others such as Friedrich Hayek although politically mobilizing for and actively supporting the advent and ascendency of neoliberalism, as witnessed by his formative role in establishing the Mont Pelerin society, were, I will argue, much more cautious about jettisoning laissez-faire and of adopting an anti-naturalistic perspective. After setting out the distinctive features that characterize neoliberalism, the consequences for education will be briefly investigated.