Old school neo-liberal? The case of Madsen Pirie
Photo by Markus Spiske via Unsplash
I have written several articles regarding neo-liberals and neo-liberalism as a political ideology. Usually, neo-liberalism is described either at the global level as globalization or at the national level regarding policies within nations. What can be perceived as less common is the description of neoliberalism in the European Union.
The EU has been described as a neoliberal project, idea, and institution by different political and academic actors. Historically, the early neo-liberals, as Friedrich Hayek did, discussed and promoted the idea of a European “interstate” federation during the famous Mont Pelerin Society meeting in 1947. From my personal experience in Europe and mainly from Sweden, neo-liberals support the existence of the EU mainly by referring to the internal market with supranational regulations regarding goods, services, capital, and people (mainly EU citizens but also when it comes to refugees seekers and others).
At the same time, one must understand that not all neo-liberals have been supporting the establishment of some kind of European polity above the national levels of governance. One example is the case of Madsen Pirie, the head of the UK-based Adam Smith Institute, a (neo)-liberal think-tank called after the famous liberal economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith.
What is interesting about Pirie is that he has a history of being principal, sober, and down to earth in his defense of and argumentation for neoliberalism as an idea. At the same time, he supported the case for Brexit, meaning that the UK should leave the EU and become a more sovereign nation regarding the ability to make decisions in different policy areas without care, interest, or need for international supranational institutions as legislation and markets.
Pirie is neo-liberal but does not believe in the political, economic, and civic integration of nations into a larger confederal or federal polity. According to one interview with Pirire, he even stated that due to Brexit the UK “we’ll be an example to the rest of the world” regarding governance, economy, and immigration. So far, this is not the case almost six years after the referendum in the UK (one can also keep in mind the problems due to Covid-19).
From my experience and when it comes to policy research, it is not the case that the UK leaving the EU or the idea of dismantling the EU would be suitable for liberals and liberalism regardless of type. Brexit has not resulted in the UK becoming more open, liberal, and freedom-oriented, and one should keep in mind that most Brexit supporters were more or less socially conservative and collectivist in their values and views on the economy, humans, and governance.
Also, one can say that pro-Brexit voters did not only vote against what they perceived as bad bureaucracy in Brussels but also in favor of bad burearcy in London since the UK is still among the most centralized states in Europe, despite being an asymmetric federation as Spain.
There has never been a neo-liberal case for Brexit partly because market integration, governance, and regulations in a supranational polity and civic engagement and solidarity simply produce better results regarding freedom, wealth, and peace and progress than peace compared nation-states just trading with specific goods. The EU is, after all, among the largest economies in the world and a “smart power” when it comes to humanitarian aid, climate governance, and security aspects.
The EU has many problems just as federations as the USA, Brazil, and India, and from a modern liberal viewpoint the EU is an example of multi-level sovereignty governance uniting more people under a common political, economic and democratic institutions rather than dividing people, democracy, and markets into single nations that still are not able to solve global problems and challenges, especially in those areas as climate, artificial intelligence, and terrorism where there is no national sovereignty nor full decision-making ability.
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