Is Neoliberalism left wing or right wing?

On economic organisation Neoliberalism scores +09 on a scale from −10 (common ownership) to +10 (private property and markets). On social and cultural order it scores +01. A single left–right figure combines these and four further measurements that move independently, which is why the atlas reports six.

Is Neoliberalism authoritarian?

On the organisation of power, which measures whether authority is dispersed among institutions that can stop each other or concentrated in a single centre, Neoliberalism scores −02. Constitutional and treaty constraints that remove economic policy from ordinary majority decision.

Atlas / Organisations / Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism

Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · 1947– · International · Neoliberal · Doctrine / school · coding confidence medium

+09ECmarket

+01CUtraditional

−02AUpluralist

+02SCcentral

−02IDuniversal

−02CHlawful

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

Market competition as the organising principle of policy, insulated from democratic interference by rules and independent institutions.

Economic model

Privatisation, liberalised trade and capital flows, independent central banks, fiscal rules, targeted rather than universal welfare.

Organisation of powers

Constitutional and treaty constraints that remove economic policy from ordinary majority decision.

Reading note

Contested as a self-description: almost nobody applies the label to themselves, which makes it unusually vulnerable to being used as an insult rather than a measurement.

Check a claim about Neoliberalism. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored +09

Far market pole on doctrine, with the important caveat that most named exponents rejected pure laissez-faire.

Programme textThe 1947 Mont Pèlerin statement of aims defends the market order and also the rule of law and a competitive framework.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored +01

Coded near neutral: the tradition is deliberately agnostic on social questions and its exponents divided sharply.

ScholarshipHayek and Friedman opposed conscription and drug prohibition; other Mont Pèlerin members were social conservatives.

AU · Organisation of power · scored −02

Coded slightly negative: the doctrine constrains majorities through rules and independent bodies, which disperses rather than concentrates authority.

ScholarshipCentral bank independence, fiscal rules and treaty commitments remove decisions from ordinary majority revision.
ScholarshipThis is delegation, not concentration; the entry for technocratic centrism is coded positive on the same reasoning and separates the two.

SC · Scale of decision · scored +02

Coded mildly central: supranational rules and treaty commitments are a central instrument.

Documented act or statuteTrade and investment liberalisation operates through binding multilateral agreement.

ID · Rule of membership · scored −02

Coded mildly universalist: free movement of capital, goods and, for most exponents, labour.

ScholarshipFriedman and Hayek both defended open immigration in principle, with Friedman qualifying it against a welfare state.

CH · Method and tempo · scored −02

Coded mildly incremental in doctrine, with a record of implementation by shock.

ScholarshipRapid liberalisation programmes in Chile, Bolivia and post-communist Europe were designed as deliberate discontinuities.

Where it came from, and what came after

takes its doctrine fromClassical Liberalism
Mont Pèlerin was convened in 1947 to rebuild the liberal position after its collapse.
gave doctrine toThatcherism
The Institute of Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies were the transmission mechanism.
gave doctrine toPinochet Regime
The Chicago-trained economists wrote the programme the junta executed.
gave doctrine toMenemism
Convertibility and mass privatisation applied the same programme under a Peronist banner.

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Arguments this entry is used in

Claims in circulation that turn on where this organisation sits. Each gives the strongest case for it, the strongest case against, and the measurement.

Is neoliberalism far right?claim check

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). Neoliberalism. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/neolib/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.