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Originally Posted by Chips Ahoy
It is the case. Rand Paul is a prototypical neoliberal. Your zerohedge is all neoliberal. Anybody saying "government is not the answer" is going to be neoliberal if they also say "the market has the answer"; markets aren't the only alternate answer. "do what makes me personally richest" is the oligarch answer.
Like Kokiri said as no one self-identifies as a neoliberal, that makes it a term primed for abuse.
While neoliberals might in some instances want to see market based solutions, I don't think they are very principled in that regard. Libertarians start from the approach of individual autonomy and believe that the role of government is to protect individual liberties. Whether Rand Paul truly believes in these principles himself is up for debate and my only point is that there are a number of ways in which libertarians distinguish themselves from neoliberals.
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I can apply the principles of neoliberalism to imagine neoliberal foreign policy. You need a merit test to divide worthy from unworthy. Aid should come with strings to encourage our preferred policies; but not from selfishness but because we are certain that our preferred policies are best. Having described the principle, the IMF is a perfect fit. The IMF is a neoliberal foreign policy institution. OTOH, the UN is not. The UN isn't a lot of things and it definitely isn't applying 'neutral' merit tests and privatization to hand out rewards and punishment.
You don't have to imagine a neoliberal foreign policy. Just Google 'neoliberal soft power' and you'll find a bunch explaining it. I agree that the IMF is a 'perfect' neoliberal institution because it works by using its economic power to gain control over nations and economies. It makes loans, countries default, it then takes control of resources. This is soft power as opposed to simply invading or organizing a coup and taking control in that manner the way a neoconservative might want to do.
I think the problem though is thinking that there is some sort of principle behind neoliberalism when it's little more than a friendly face behind imperialism.