The Theoretical Foundations of Neoliberalism: A Foucauldian approach to F. A. Hayek’s connection of neoliberalism to classical liberalism

In order to comprehend the current form of neoliberal policies, an examination of neoliberalism’s theoretical foundation is necessary. Located in the immediate post war years and mostly in F.A. Hayek’s work, neoliberalism is treated as an attempt of ‘liberal revival’ based primarily on classical British liberalism and contrasted with continental liberalism and welfare politics. Hayek’s attempts to establish the link of neoliberalism and classical liberalism based upon three main pillars: individual freedom, spontaneous order of the market and the rule of law. The first part of the research is devoted to analyzing the core concepts under a Hayekian light by providing historical contextualisation. In the second part, the three core concepts are examined based Michel Foucault’s Birth of Biopolitics. Foucault’s Birth of Biopolitics assists the current research in challenging the Hayekian construction of linking neoliberalism with classical liberalism. The main observation made by...Show moreIn order to comprehend the current form of neoliberal policies, an examination of neoliberalism’s theoretical foundation is necessary. Located in the immediate post war years and mostly in F.A. Hayek’s work, neoliberalism is treated as an attempt of ‘liberal revival’ based primarily on classical British liberalism and contrasted with continental liberalism and welfare politics. Hayek’s attempts to establish the link of neoliberalism and classical liberalism based upon three main pillars: individual freedom, spontaneous order of the market and the rule of law. The first part of the research is devoted to analyzing the core concepts under a Hayekian light by providing historical contextualisation. In the second part, the three core concepts are examined based Michel Foucault’s Birth of Biopolitics. Foucault’s Birth of Biopolitics assists the current research in challenging the Hayekian construction of linking neoliberalism with classical liberalism. The main observation made by Foucault is the accentuation of the economic aspect of liberalism in the neoliberal construction; the ‘economization of the non-economic’. The conclusions drawn from the second part of the research, based on the Foucauldian approach of the core concepts of neoliberalism, endeavour to challenge the Hayekian rationale in constructing our current understanding of neoliberalism; although neoliberalism is built upon the notion of freedom, we are inevitably controlled through freedom.Show less

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The Theoretical Foundations of Neoliberalism: A Foucauldian approach to F. A. Hayek’s connection of neoliberalism to classical liberalism