1,720,966 research outputs found
Reinventing liberalism : the politics, philosophy and economics of early neoliberalism (1920-1947)
No full textIn April 1947, a group of right-leaning intellectuals met in the Swiss Alps for a ten-day conference with the aim of establishing a permanent organization. Named “an army of fighters for freedom” by Friedrich Hayek, they would at times use “neoliberalism” as a description of the philosophy they were developing. Later, many of them would opt for "classical liberalism” or other monikers. Was their liberalism classical or was it new? All new creeds build on previous ones, but the intellectuals in question were involved in an explicit attempt to change liberalism and move beyond both past laissez-faire ideals and the social liberalism popular at the time. This book provides a contextual, historical understanding of the development of neoliberal ideas, by studying its evolution from the first socialist calculation debates in Red Vienna to the founding meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society in 1947. The author examines key neoliberal conceptions of totalitarianism, market mechanisms and states, and presents a detailed study of the discussions during the first meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society. Offering a new perspective on the ideas that have influenced economics and politics since the 1970s, this study appeals to scholars interested in modern and political history, political theory and the history of economic thought.-- Introduction -- The Socialist Calculation Debates -- The Lippmann Colloquium -- The Economic Consequences of the War -- An Army of Fighters for Freedom -- Using the State -- A New Europe -- The Second Week -- Conclusions: What Is Neoliberalism?Published version of EUI PhD thesis, 201
Reinventing liberalism : early neoliberalism in context, 1920-1947
Full text linkDefence date: 27 September 2017Examining Board: Professor Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic, Sciences Po; Dr. João Rodrigues, University of Coimbra (external advisor); Professor Youssef Cassis, European Universiy Institute; Professor Lucy Riall, European University Institute (supervisor)Awarded the 2019 Dorfman Dissertation Prize by the History of Economics SocietyThe thesis is a close study of a transnational group of intellectuals, mainly economists, who met in Paris in 1938 and at Mont Pèlerin in 1947 with the explicit aim to create a new liberalism for the modern world. At times they would use neoliberalism as a description of the creed they were developing, later they would opt for classical liberalism, in a bid to highlight continuities in their approach to political philosophy. Was their liberalism classical or was it new? The verb to reinvent is used frequently in modern academe, but its meaning is somewhat unclear. In the history of political thought, however, and especially the history of liberalism, the term can become a useful tool for enquiry. One way or the other, all new creeds build on previous ones, but the intellectuals in question were involved in a conscious, explicit attempt to change liberalism. This involved restating certain aspects of what they perceived as “true liberalism” and updating these to a different social and historical context, while also purging liberalism of all they felt was wrong with it. The contextualization of the many layers of interpretation involved in making these arguments is the main topic of this thesis. The intellectuals in question argued that “economic planning” was what had led to the rise of dictatorships in Europe. They included the communist dictatorship in Russia and the fascist dictatorships in Germany and Italy as part of the same phenomenon, totalitarianism, and further claimed that democracies like the USA, Great Britain and France were headed in the same direction. In this way, other, tangential movements to reinvent liberalism under labels such as new liberalism or social liberalism also came under attack, as it was argued that they were taking society in a totalitarian direction through collectivism and economic planning. The latter concept was defined loosely as any government “intervention” in the economy or, more precisely, attempts at subverting the mechanisms of markets in order to improve on their outcomes, redistribute wealth or counter business cycles. This strong criticism of economic planning did not lead these thinkers to advocate a position of “laissez-faire”. On the contrary, the second major plank of their intellectual project was an attack on the ideas of laissez-faire liberalism, a creed they claimed was rigid and outdated. Their internal debates can be seen as an attempt to incorporate a theory of states into right-wing liberalism, and focused on how to use states to spread, protect and foster what they still saw as a largely self-regulating mechanism. The first part of the thesis traces this dual argument to books, articles, lectures and correspondence by and between the intellectuals involved, from the German language socialist calculation debates in the 1920s, to the first meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society in 1947. The second part of the thesis uses some of the tools of micro history to conduct an in-depth study of this ten-day meeting in the Swiss alps. In the conclusion I argue that neoliberalism is best understood as a theory of modernity arising out of the historical conjuncture of Europe in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. This theory was based on a novel conceptualization of markets as mediators of modernity, the only mechanism through which order and prosperity could be achieved in a modern mass-society. Neoliberals took this new understanding of markets and combined it with an embrace of state power as legitimate within a theory of liberalism when put to use in concordance with what was believed to be logic of markets. The work may contribute to a deeper understanding of neoliberalism, whether this is seen as a philosophy inspiring a political movement, a political rationality, or some sort of combination of the two
National Interests as Positive Externalities: Headquarters Retainment as Justification for Hybrid State-owned Enterprises in Norway (2000–2021)
Full text linkAs a result of the partial privatization and public listing of two large state-owned enterprises in 2001, the Norwegian state became the largest owner at the Oslo stock exchange. A new mode of corporate governance was developed, through which retainment of the corporate headquarters (HQ) of hybrid state-owned enterprises became the sole political goal of continued state ownership in these corporations. This article explores the perceived benefits to the national economy of these company HQ through an investigation of public documents and interviews with key stakeholders. The article argues that the main function of the goal of HQ retainment was to portray national interests and political goals as mere (positive) externalities of HQ location, and that this goal was formalized due to a perceived need to depoliticize the corporate governance of hybrid state-owned enterprises.publishedVersio
State-owned enterprises after the market turn: Hybridisation and the historical development of nested paradoxes in the case of Norway
Full text linkThe article studies the recent history of state owned enterprises (SOEs) in Norway through the lens of paradox theory. A tension between busi- ness goals and political goals lie at the heart of SOEs, and I analyse processes of partial privatisations in the 1990s and early 2000s as attempts to overcome this original paradox. Through the public listing of major SOEs, the Norwegian state became the largest owner on the Oslo stock exchange and a new corporate governance setup for these entities arose. I propose to see this development as a case of historically developed nested paradoxes, and argue that a new paradox emerged in which the Norwegian state attempted to reach political goals through the ownership of SOEs by not having explicit political goals. I find two main equilibrating mechanisms for this paradox, and discuss some of the ways paradoxical tensions of SOEs still persist despite attempts to overcome thempublishedVersio
Franz Borkenau og den totalitære revolusjon
No full textOppgaven handler om den østerrikske tenkeren Franz Borkenau (1900 – 1957) og hans bruk av totalitarismebegrepet. Totalitarismebegrepet som kritisk analyseverktøy for sammenligning av fascisme og kommunisme har mye av sitt opphav på den tysk venstresiden i årene under Weimar-republikken. Borkenau var leder av Kommunisticscher Jugendverband og ansatt i Komintern, men brøt med KPD og Moskva-kommunismen i 1928. De aller fleste ”Weimar-intellektuelle” havnet i eksil etter nazistenes Machtergreifung i 1934. Mange dro til USA og jobbet for amerikansk etterretning under den andre verdenskrig. Da den kalde krigen stod for døren passet deres komparative analyse av den nye fienden (Sovjetunionen) og den gamle fienden (Nazi-Tyskland) perfekt for amerikansk utenrikspolitikk – og totalitarismebegrepet ble en viktig del av vestens kaldkrigspropaganda. Borkenau selv ble en svært aggressiv antikommunist. Han oppholdt seg aldri i USA, men jobbet blant annet for den amerikanske okkupasjonsmyndigheten i Tyskland (OMGUS), og bidro i 1950 aktivt til opprettelsen av Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), en organisasjon som skulle knytte bånd mellom europeiske og amerikanske intellektuelle i kampen mot kommunismen. CCF viste seg senere å i hemmelighet ha vært finansiert av CIA, som et viktig ledd i den ”kulturelle kalde krigen”. Borkenau var historiker, men oppfattet seg selv som ”politisk sosiolog”. Han skrev både bøker og artikler om en rekke temaer, og mange av dem kan knyttes til tesen han utviklet om at Europa stod ovenfor en ”totalitær revolusjon”. Denne er basert på en marxistisk analyse av økonomiske og sosiale forhold som årsak til store omveltninger i samfunnets maktstruktur. Borkenaus totalitarismebegrep var også sterkt påvirket av den italienske økonomen Vilfredo Paretos eliteteorier, og ble i Borkenaus senere år også kombinert med en kulturpessimistisk analyse av den vestlige sivilisasjons fall.
Oppgaven forsøker å analyser utviklingen av Borkenaus totalitarismebegrep, sette dette inn i dets historiske kontekst, og vurdere Borkenaus betydning for totalitarismebegrepet
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Metahistory as Public History: On Introducing Metahistorical Perspectives in Events about Events
Full text linkThis article argues that the introduction of ‘metahistorical perspectives’can greatly enrich the practice of public history. Through the example of a series of public events about important historical events held at the National Library of Norway, it is argued that an attention to microhistory, pedagogical theory and especially William Sewell Jr.’s theory of events can be beneficial when programming events for the general public. This focus on ‘metahistorical perspectives’ in the practice of public history stands in contrast to widely held notions of public history as entailing simplifications and ‘dumbing down’ of academic knowledge.acceptedVersio
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