DISCURSIVE DISPUTES. IDEAS SOBRE LA LIBERTAD IN THE EARLY ARRIVALS OF THE NEOLIBERAL MOVEMENT IN ARGENTINA
Abstract
The Mont Pèlerin Society’s members created different institutes in Latin America and around the world in the mid-20th century to expand a discursive directed to dispute antagonist socioeconomics models. The Centro de Difusión de la Economía Libre of Argentina was one of them. This work relieves the authors whose writings have been disseminated by its periodic publication- Ideas Sobre la Libertad-, the institutional sources of them, the kind of institution, and the hierarchical position occupied by them in these institutions. This, to put attention on those institutions that support the neoliberal project.
A mediados del siglo XX en una superficie histórica signada por disputas propias de la Guerra Fría; integrantes de Mont Pèlerin Society, con objeto de dar difusión a entramados conceptuales destinados a dar batalla a perspectivas y modelos que -en algún grado- permiten la legitimación de demandas obreras y entorpecen procesos de extracción de plusvalía, crean diversos institutos a lo largo de América Latina y el globo. Uno de ellos es, en el caso argentino, el Centro de Difusión de la Economía Libre (CDEL). El trabajo que presentamos a continuación releva los autores cuya obra ha sido difundida en la publicación periódica que editase dicho centro, así como, su procedencia institucional, el carácter de tales instituciones y la posición jerárquica que los mismos ocupaban en las entidades de origen. Ello con objeto de adentrarnos, a través del abordaje de un caso concreto, en el estudio del funcionamiento y las estrategias desplegadas por quienes se nucléan alrededor de Mont Pèlerin Society con objeto de dar batalla en el plano discursivo a opciones políticas, económicas y sociales antagónicas.
PALABRAS CLAV E: Neoliberalismo – Intelectuales orgánicos – Empresarios– Elites – Disputas discursivas- Pos verdad – Argentina - Derechas.
Em meados do século XX em uma superfície histórica marcada por disputas típicas da Guerra Fria; Membros da Sociedade Mont Pèlerin, com o objetivo de disseminar marcos conceituais destinados a combater perspectivas e modelos que - em certa medida - permitem a legitimação das demandas dos trabalhadores e dificultam os processos de extração de ganhos de capital, criam diversos institutos pela América, e o mundo. Um deles é, no caso argentino, o Centro de Difusão da Economia Livre (CDEL). Este trabalho revela os autores cuja obra foi divulgada na publicação periódica editada por esse centro, bem como a sua origem institucional, a natureza de tais instituições e a posição hierárquica que ocupavam nas entidades de origem. Isso para aprofundar, por meio da abordagem de um caso específico, no estudo do funcionamento e das estratégias implantadas por aqueles que estão nucleados em torno da Sociedade Mont Pèlerin para lutar no plano discursivo a opções políticas, econômicas e sociais antagônicas.
PALAVRAS CHAVE: Neoliberalismo - Intelectuais orgânicos - Empresários - Elites - Disputas discursivas - Pós-verdade - Argentina - Certo.
Keywords
INVESTIGACIÓN http://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2021.54.e698
Received: 01/04/2021 --- Accepted: 05/08/2021 --- Published: 16/09/2021
DISPUTAS DISCURSIVAS.
IDEAS SOBRE LA LIBERTAD EN LOS DESEMBARCOS INICIALES DEL MOVIMIENTO NEOLIBERAL EN ARGENTINA
How to cite the article:
De Büren, M. P. (2021). Discursive disputes. Ideas sobre la libertad in the early arrivals of the neoliberal movement in Argentina. Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI, 54, 25-48. http://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2021.54.e698
RESUMEN
DISPUTAS DISCURSIVAS.
IDEIAS SOBRE LIBERDADE NOS ATERROS INICIAIS DO MOVIMENTO NEOLIBERAL NA ARGENTINA.
RESUMO
Translation by Paula González (Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Venezuela)
INTRODUCTION
Under the title "Disinformation Strategies: Fake News and Fact-Checking", the call for this issue of the Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI accurately warns us:
Disinformation, a defining phenomenon of our time, (...) is one of the main concerns (...). [It is a] crisis (...), with effects such as the lack of trust in the quality of the received information (...), in the role of public or private institutions (...), and in democracy itself (Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI, 2021)
In line with this, the publication invites to submit papers resulting from research aimed at understanding disinformation phenomena, in general, and fake news and fact-checking in particular.
The paper that we begin next, addresses a case. It is introduced into the analysis of a specific periodic publication linked to an organization that seeks to nurture actors connected to fractions of the international right-wing concerned about the advancement of communism, Keynesianism, and the Welfare States. These, to make visible practices that, although they precede and differ from the current processes of disinformation characterized by the spread of fake news, can be considered their antecedent as forms of dissemination of interpretations 1 of social reality destined to intervene in the political and historical development of communities and nations.
Following the research of various authors, we could describe neoliberalism as a global project articulated since the mid-20th century in Mont Pèlerin Society (1947) (Anderson, 2003; Büren, 2013; Büren, 2015; Denord, 2002; Hartwell, 1995; Morresi, 2008; Murillo, 2015). This association brings together intellectuals, businessmen, and politicians to confront the advance of communism and any other form of state management of the economy, including the socialist, state welfarist, and Keynesian options. Mont Pèlerin Society understands that the aforementioned forms have spread across the globe due to the diffusion of certain ways of interpreting history and social reality; then -according to their own diagnosis (Hartwel, 1995)- to fight them it is necessary: to socially delegitimize them through criticism, write a new utopia in front of them -the new liberalism-, and spread the resulting discursive constructions in all corners of the planet. This, to influence the real political and social development of nations, more specifically, stop the advance of communism, socialism, and the like. Thus, among multiple strategies, they propose the creation of an international network of people in charge of the dissemination of their ideas, the foundation of institutions dedicated to the monitoring of senior management public policies, and direct political intervention. In this direction, they will direct their actions to incorporate their discursive framework in university curricula and found institutions dedicated to the dissemination and re-adaptation of their interpretive scaffolding in the different local realities of the different countries of the globe (Denord, 2002; Murillo, 2015; Steinberg, 1995).
In Argentina, this insertion becomes effective -after the overthrow of Peronism at the hands of the Liberating Revolution and at the height of North American leadership in the Western world- through the figure of Alberto Benegas Lynch and the Center for the Dissemination of the Free Economy. This institution organizes conferences and publications, among them, the journal Ideas Sobre la Libertad published in the period 1958-1989 to disseminate the monpelerines conceptual framework in Argentina (de Büren, 2020a; ) (Büren, 2014; Büren, 2015).
Based on the information available in the corpus made up of the journal Ideas Sobre la Libertad in the entire period in which it was published, we have developed a database that, after processing, has allowed us to delve into central elements of this network: authors, national, regional, and foreign institutions that they represent, the origin of the non-periodical publications disseminated by the CDEL, local, regional, and foreign sources of discursive provision, and spaces of local amplification.
OBJECTIVES
As Ideas Sobre la Libertad is constituted in a device destined to introduce and amplify in the Argentine territory the monpelerines discursive framework through the re-publication of articles disseminated abroad, their translation into Spanish when necessary, and the translation into the local reality of its interpretative and ideological framework; it is worth asking ourselves, what are the sources of the statements that are pronounced there? What actors produce them? From what subject positions are they formulated? From what institutional networks and strategic articulations? Such are the questions that we will specifically try to address in this survey, or, in other words, we will seek here to introduce ourselves -from the analysis of one of the periodic publications of one of the Mont Pèlerin Society’s dissemination centers- in what MichelFoucault (2002) denominates “delimitation instances” of the neoliberal movement.
METHODOLOGY
The paper that we begin next may seem tedious to read due to the amount of information it reveals. We synthesize the processed data in tables that show the relative percentages of participation in a decreasing way as a way to speed up their reading. We do not doubt its deployment and exposition since we consider that the survey, not only of the type of institution but also of its identity and that of its authors, contributes to the rigor of this work and constitutes a valid contribution for researchers dedicated to the study and analysis of the deployment of the neoliberal movement nucleated in Mont Pèlerin Society and allows to make visible the international framework of this movement.
In methodological terms, we appeal to the genealogical and archaeological approach that Michel Foucault (2002, 1979) will develop. In this sense, the article rescues some statements made by this movement, such as the titles of some of the disseminated articles, as well as the surfaces from which they emerge and circulate, the spaces of power and actors, or, more precisely, the positions of subjects from which they are pronounced.
RESULTS
The analysis of publications disseminated in Ideas Sobre la Libertad in its period of validity, more specifically, the works of the authors that are published in it and their institutional origin, allows us to observe the political and business nature of this publication. We can observe how some of the publications forged within the monpelerines movement, while at the same time ascribing to itself a non-profit character and objectives limited to the dissemination of values and ideas around freedom, is really and effectively sustained in an international network of business spaces and associations with clear interests in defense of class interests. The material surface from which these statements emerge and sustain their circulation allows us to delve into signification.
DISCUSSION
Published authors
We observe the authors and works disseminated in the journal Ideas Sobre la Libertad between December 1958 and December 1989, that is, in its issues 1 to 54. Table 1 -available below- collects the list of authors whose works were published or re-published there and the number of articles presented by each one 2 .
|
Author |
Total |
Percentage |
|
Publishing house |
35 |
|
|
Read, Leonard E |
32 |
6,9% |
|
Benegas Lynch, Alberto |
32 |
6,9% |
|
Sennholz, Hans F. |
18 |
3,9% |
|
Benegas Lynch, Alberto (s) |
18 |
3,9% |
|
von Mises, Ludwig |
16 |
3,4% |
|
Hazlitt, Henry |
14 |
3,0% |
|
Russell, Dean |
13 |
2,8% |
|
Tagle, Manuel |
10 |
2,2% |
|
von Hayek, Friedrich |
9 |
1,9% |
|
Poirot, Paul L. |
9 |
1,9% |
|
Chamberlin, William Henry |
9 |
1,9% |
|
Carson, Clarence B. |
7 |
1,5% |
|
Winder, George |
6 |
1,3% |
|
Abdala, Raúl Oscar |
6 |
1,3% |
|
Reig, Joaquín |
5 |
1,1% |
|
Zylberberg, Meir |
5 |
1,1% |
|
Gonzáles, Floreal |
5 |
1,1% |
|
Roepke, Wilhelm |
4 |
0,9% |
|
Alberdi, Juan Bautista |
4 |
0,9% |
|
Harper, Floyd A. |
4 |
0,9% |
|
Reig Albiol, Jaoquín |
4 |
0,9% |
|
Benegas, Fernando |
4 |
0,9% |
|
Bastiat, Federico |
4 |
0,9% |
|
Chamberlain, John |
4 |
0,9% |
|
Curtiss, W.M. |
4 |
0,9% |
|
Ayau, Manuel F. |
4 |
0,9% |
|
Luzzetti, Carlos |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Nymeyer, Frederick |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Carca, Norberto Luis |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Petro, Sylvester |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Kemp, Arthur |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Sparks, John C. |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Sanchez Sañudo, Carlos A. |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Hospers, John |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Arathoon, Hilary |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Zanotti, Gabriel J. |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Linares Quintana, Segundo V |
3 |
0,6% |
|
Chodorov, Frank |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Pettengill, Samuel B. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Ballvé, Faustino |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Lastra, Alejadro |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Rand, Any |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Velasco, Gustavo R. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Fernández del Casal, Alberto |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Bien, Bettina |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Coleson, Edwars P. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Luque, Rodolfo N. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Smith, Harlan L. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Optiz, Edmund A. (Reverendo) |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Shenoy, Sudha R. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Elsom, Harold B. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Rogge, Benjamín A. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Loncán, Enrique J. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Brandt, Karl |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Brodin, Eric |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Anderson, Robert G. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Juárez-Paz, Rigoberto |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Tranquillius |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Wriston, Walter B. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Cachanosky, Juan Carlos |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Greaves, Percy L. (s) |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Rodríguez Varela,Alberto |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Ball, Carlos A. |
2 |
0,4% |
|
Shelly, Thomas J. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Echeverria, Esteban |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Amunategui, Miguel Luis |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Ibele, Oscar |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Hunold, Albert C. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Padilla, Benedicto |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Ferrero, Rómulo A. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Tolstoy, León N. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Hoff, Trygve J. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Jalón, Diego |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Shenfield, A. A. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Van Sickle, John V. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Branden, Bárbara |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Steele, Peter |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Yankus, Stanley |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Jebb, Reginald |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Armond, Fred de |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Hutton, E. F. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Schuettinger, Robert |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Dobríansky, Lev E. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Sullivan, Lawrence |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Molinelli, Nimar G. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Burke, Edmund |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Fundación para estudios sobre la libertad. Bogota |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Shallcross Maynard, Ruth |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Greenfield, Edward W. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Rougier, Louis |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Anderson, Maxwell |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Magni, Leonidas |
1 |
0,2% |
|
La Prensa (Diario- editorial) |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Barger, Melvin D. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Lachaume, P. Lhoste |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Fox, Willard M. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Margenau, Henry |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Mahaffy, Francis E. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Emeny, Cliff S. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Bancks, Dean |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Asociación vitivinícola argentina |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Corral, Alberto (Fundac de estudios sobre la libertad. Bogota |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Pinedo, Federico |
1 |
0,2% |
|
The Morgan Garanty Survey |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Heilperin, Michael A. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Paton, W. A. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Salinas Price, Hugo |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Fiske, John |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Sirito, Juan Andrés |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Industrias Asociadas de Misouri |
1 |
0,2% |
|
The American Economic Foundation |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Cross, Mallory |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Vinelli, Rodolfo J. W. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Dykes, Charles |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Benegas Lynch, Alberto (nieto) |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Zimmermann, Eduardo |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Soljenitsin, Alejandro |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Manion, Clarence |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Turnbull, Charles |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Romero, Carolina |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Summers, Brian |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Pio XII |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Higgs, Robert |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Wiarda, Howard J. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Beltrán, Lucas |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Boragina, Gabriel Jorge |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Gómez, Eleuterio |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Redd, Laurence W. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Erik |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Ribas, Armando P. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Bechara, Dennis |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Ravines, Eudocio |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Rogers, James M. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Berruti, Pedro |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Belgrano, Juan Manuel |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Vidal Molina, Enrique |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Madland, Lee G. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Taft Benson, Ezra |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Cammarota, Aldo |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Santos Gollán, José |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Cucchetti, Carlos |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Malbrán, Manuel E. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Sánchez Covisa, Joaquín |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Royster, Vermont |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Cooley, Oscar W. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Autor anónimo |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Watts, V. Orval |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Braun, Armando M. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Gallo, Ezequiel L. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Brozen, Yale |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Alazraqui Alonso, Jaime M. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Benegas Lynch, Marieta |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Arenz, Enrique |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Foss, Kendall |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Harcourt- Rivington, S. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
C.L. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Salceda, Alberto C. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Smith, Bradford B. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Rothbard, Murray N. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Leoni, Bruno |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Sargent, Lois H. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Jurado, Alicia |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Frias Silva, Juan C. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Venturi, Jorge L. García |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Stevens, Paul |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Mitre, Bartolomé |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Gainza Paz, Alberto |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Río, Manuel |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Peterson, Williams H. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Koether, George |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Rimido, Obsoleto P. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Goodman Ch. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Thomsen, Steve |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Ellis, Edwars S. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
de Gandía, Enrique |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Novak, Michael |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Domínguez Benavides, Alejandro |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Albornoz, Miguel |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Rueff, Jacques |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Gresham, Perry E. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Sopeña, Germán |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Hessen, Robert |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Anderson, Gordon T. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Pazos, Luis |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Isaacs, Mark D. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Keller, Deborah |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Vargas Llosa, Mario |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Repetto, Roberto |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Salas Falcón, Fernando |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Zheng, Pujie |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Díaz Bessone, Ramón Genaro |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Bendfedt, Juan F. |
1 |
0,2% |
|
Total |
499 |
|
|
Total not counting editorial notes |
464 |
100,0% |
Source: Self-made based on information available in Ideas Sobre la Libertad N° 1 to N° 54. December 1958-December 1989
Leonard Read -along with the founder of CDEL-, heads the list of publications, who has been general manager of the Los Angeles branch of the United States Chamber of Commerce (1939); Vice President of the National Industrial Conference Board of New York (1945); founder of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) (1946, New York). The latter institution enjoyed the financial support of William Volker Found and Harold Luhnow; who is in charge of the edition of The Freeman Magazine -Ronald Reagan's head reading- and which has become a center for the production and discursive dissemination of the monpelerines movement. In this foundation, its maximum referents taught classes, students from Argentina and the rest of Latin America came to train, who produced papers that were later published in their own magazines and magazines throughout the world network. For the first Mont Pèlerin Society meeting, Hayek asked Leonard Read to organize the North American contingent (Büren, 2015; Büren, 2019).
Read welcomes the Argentine magazine Ideas Sobre la Libertad (ISL) in its capacity as a dissemination device, by sending a complimentary letter that was published in its initial issue. From there, ISL, among other practices, re-publishes articles initially presented in the United States in The Freeman magazine that Read himself edits. This character has given lectures in our country in June 1977 at the facilities of the Higher School of War and the Command-in-Chief of the National Navy (Büren, 2014). Among his numerous articles published in ISL, we could highlight: "Two ways to avoid strikes", "Combat Statism", "How to reduce taxes", "The case in defense of the free market in education", "The man of the mass”, “The miracle of the market”, “Companies have a 'right' to a fair profit”, “Shylock (usurer). He charges what he can!”, “On freedom and order” (ISL N° 1, 2, 6, 21, 3, 9, 16, 17, 23).
Equally prominent are the works of the president of the CDEL, Alberto Benegas Lynch. This character is the one who is in charge of establishing relations in the United States, in the facilities of the University of Chicago with Friedrich Hayek -the then-president and founder of Mont Pèlerin Society- in 1950, from which he founded the CDEL destined to spread the Montpelerines ideology on Argentine soil as other institutions in the rest of Latin America and the world did at the time (Hartwell, 1995; de Büren, 2020; de Büren, 2020a; de Büren, 2015) (Büren, 2015; Büren, 2020; Hartwell, 1995). According to the tribute that the newspaper La Nación gave him on the occasion of his death, this politician, businessman, and academic presided over the wine company that his grandfather founded in 1883, was president of the Argentine Wine Association and the Argentine Chamber trade; he was a member of the National Academy of Economic Sciences, of the National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, and the National Academy of Economics of Uruguay. Through the Center for Studies on Freedom, he invited, among others, Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises to Argentina and offered scholarships to Argentines in the United States to delve into the study of the free market. During the first two years of the Liberating Revolution, he lived in Washington, where he was plenipotentiary minister of the Argentine embassy. (La Nación, February 20th, 1999). Among the articles published in ISL, we highlight "Anti-communist efficacy", "Property: essential factor progress", "Institutional subversion", "Land and property", "Free labor: source of worker prosperity" (ISL N ° 14, 17, 49, 82, 4).
The list continues with articles by Hans Sennholz, who was trained with Ludwig von Mises and founded Grove City College, an American institute with similar purposes to the Foundation for Economics Education, and Alberto Benegas Lynch (s), son of the founder and president of CDEL and creator -with the help of funds provided by members of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange- of the School of Administration and Economics (ESEADE). Postgraduate institution founded in 1977 to continue the work of the CDEL but now also offering postgraduate degrees (de Büren, 2019; de Büren, 2020a; de Büren, 2014; Benegas Lynch (s), 2007). Between December 1958 and December 1989, Ideas Sobre la Libertad publishes, among others, "The ghost called 'monopoly'", "The myth of capitalist colonialism", "Syndicalism destroying the principles of the market economy" by Hans Sennholz (ISL N° 6, 4, 52) and "Four decades of statism in Latin America", "Industrial decentralization and waste of capital", "Impossibility of economic calculation in the socialist system", "An example of the absurd: the case of state companies” by Alberto Benegas Lynch (s) (ISL N° 39, 33, 27, 47).
Following, in order of numerical importance, articles inspired by the world referents of the Austrian School of Economics, Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, and Friedrich Hayek, to which we could add -despite their lower relative weight- the publications of other prominent figures from this perspective of thought: Sylvester Petro and Murray Rothbard. Among the articles by these authors that ISL reproduces, we highlight “The individual in society” -excerpt from his work Human Action-, “Economic Failure of the Soviet system”, “Freedom and Property” by Ludwig von Mises (ISL N° 29, 4, 2); “International 'Currency'”, “How Trade Unions Reduce Real Wages” -excerpt from his work The Conquest of Poverty-, “Indexing: A Wrong Way Out”, “Public Works Increase Tax Burdens” by Henry Hazlitt (ISL No. 10, 31, 36); Friedrich von Hayek's “The Element of Free Enterprise”, “Planning and the Rule of Law”, and “Renaissance of Liberalism” (ISL N° 12, 52, 1); and “The Danger of Union Power” by Sylvester Petro (ISL N° 5). It should be noted that the aforementioned authors -Alberto Benegas Lynch, father and son, and Hans Sennholz- are also authors trained and attached to the Austrian School of Economics, which makes the guidelines of this publication strongly and mainly guided by this thinking current.
Institutional origin of the authors
At this point in the analysis of the authors published in Ideas Sobre la Libertad, their grouping according to institutional origin becomes pertinent to observe what Michel Foucault calls the "subject position", from which the statements disseminated here are pronounced, the institutional articulation that constitutes their material base of emergency and support, and the international links that contribute to their appearance and circulation.
Based on the information that has been declared by the magazine Ideas Sobre la Libertad in its publication of each article, Table 2 -available below- has been prepared, which reveals the institutional origin of its author. The relative weight given to each institution is signified by the number of articles published by authors belonging to it, as long as it has been reported in the article published in Ideas Sobre la Libertad 3 .
|
Institution |
Frequency |
Percentage |
|
The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) |
33 |
17,1% |
|
Centro de Difusión de la Economía Libre (CDEL) |
27 |
14,0% |
|
Grove City College |
16 |
8,3% |
|
University of Chicago |
5 |
2,6% |
|
New York University |
5 |
2,6% |
|
Francisco de Marroquín University |
5 |
2,6% |
|
Mont Pèlerin Society |
4 |
2,1% |
|
Wall Street Journal |
4 |
2,1% |
|
Human Events |
3 |
1,6% |
|
Rockford College |
3 |
1,6% |
|
Wabash College |
3 |
1,6% |
|
American Enterprise Institute |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Baron's and Newsweek |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Companies of Peru |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Campbell College |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Buenos Aires Bar Association |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Diario Caracas |
2 |
1,0% |
|
New York Times |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Stanford University, Hoover Institution |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Supreme Court, New Zealand |
2 |
1,0% |
|
University of Southern California |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Stanford University |
2 |
1,0% |
|
William Volker Fund |
2 |
1,0% |
|
National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. |
1 |
0,5% |
|
National Academy of Economic Sciences |
1 |
0,5% |
|
American Institute for Economic Research |
1 |
0,5% |
|
American Society for Aesthetics |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Aristotelican Society |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Bank |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Argentine Chamber of Commerce |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Argentine Chamber of Construction |
1 |
0,5% |
|
US House of Representatives |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Federal Court of Appeals, La Plata. |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Center for Economic-Social Studies |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Free Enterprise Research Center |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Claremont Men's College. |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Walter Lippmann Colloquium |
1 |
0,5% |
|
The Congress of the Philippines |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Courts of Spain |
1 |
0,5% |
|
US delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission |
1 |
0,5% |
|
E. F. Hutton & Co. |
1 |
0,5% |
|
London School of Economics (LSE) |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Free School of Law |
1 |
0,5% |
|
ESEADE |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Farmand |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Federation of British Industries |
1 |
0,5% |
|
First National City Bank of New York |
1 |
0,5% |
|
First Principles in Morality and Economics. |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Huntintog College |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Catholic Church |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Institute of Social and Economic Research |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Swiss Institute of International Studies |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Intercollegiate Society of individualist |
1 |
0,5% |
|
James U. Blanchard & Company |
1 |
0,5% |
|
La Prensa. |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Lake Erie College |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Le Point de Rencontre Liberal-Spiritualiste |
1 |
0,5% |
|
New Individualist Review |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Northwood Institute |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Liberal Libertarian Party of the USA |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Royal Institute of Philosophy |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Seminary of the Holy Cross, Gregorian University of Rome and Stonehill College |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Seminary (don't know if Catholic) |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Sociedad Pro Empresa Libre |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Spring Harbor College |
1 |
0,5% |
|
The Flying A |
1 |
0,5% |
|
The Mackinac Center |
1 |
0,5% |
|
The Monist |
1 |
0,5% |
|
The Morgan Garanty Survey |
1 |
0,5% |
|
The Objectivist Newsletter |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Think it through |
1 |
0,5% |
|
UBA. School of Economics |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Bethany University |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Bue's Greek University |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Georgentown University |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Gujarat University |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Masachussettes University |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Michigan University |
1 |
0,5% |
|
University of Tennessee |
1 |
0,5% |
|
University of Washington |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Yale University |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Universidad del Museo Social Argentino |
1 |
0,5% |
|
University of Oklahoma |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Kent State University |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Total |
193 |
100% |
Source: Self-made based on Ideas Sobre la Libertad N°1 to N°54.
llows us to observe that most of the articles published in ISL between December 1958 and December 1989, that is, between their issues 1 to 54, come, first of all, from authors linked to the institution directed by Leonard Read,The Foundation for Economic Education, –they reached 17.1%-; second -14%-, from the one chaired by Alberto Benegas Lynch, the Centro de Difusión de la Economía Libre (CDEL)-; then -8.3%- from the University where Hans Sennholz carries out his activities, Grove City College; then -2.6%- from the University of Chicago where the figure of the Montpelerines Milton Friedman is notable, from the University of New York where Ludwig von Mises works as a teacher, and from the Francisco de Marroquín University founded and directed by one of the few Latin Americans who have served as president of the Mont Pèlerin Society, Manual Ayau; later -2.1%- from Mont Pèlerin Society 4 and the Wall Street Journal.
Among the articles published in Ideas Sobre la Libertad by authors linked to the Foundation for Economic Education and any of its dependencies -The Freeman magazine and its School of Political Economy- we find some of the aforementioned texts by Henry Hazlitt, Leonard Read, and Ludwig von Mises and we could highlight “Freedom follows the free market” by Dean Russell and “Liberalism used to mean freedom” by Reverend Edmund A. Optiz (ISL N° 17, 38).
The published works of authors affiliated with the CDEL include some of the texts cited by Alberto Benegas Lynch, Alberto Benegas Lynch (s) and Fernando Benegas, and others, among which “Antiliberal tendencies of democracy in Latin America” by Manuel Tagle and “For the Liberal Man's Library” -commentary on von Mises's Human Action when its translation into Spanish had just appeared- by Carlos Luzzetti, stand out. (ISL N° 3, 7).
The articles published in Ideas Sobre la Libertad between December 1958 and December 1989 by authors associated with Grove City College include some of those mentioned by Hans F. Sennholz and others, among which "The Renaissance of Freedom" by Clarence B. Carson (ISL N° 17) stands out. From authors linked to the Francisco de Marroquín University, we highlight the article “Rationing in the free market economy” by Manuel F. Ayau (ISL N ° 47). Lastly, by Mont Pèlerin Society authors we highlight "This time of 'ne laissez pas faire" by Albert C. Hunold, (ISL N° 4) and by writers affiliated with the Wall Street Journal "Communism is not a wave of the future" by William Henry Chamberlin (ISL N° 13).
Nature of the dissemination centers of origin of the authors
available below- classifies 5 the institutions that were already presented in Table 2 in a disaggregated manner and groups them into different categories. The Centro de Estudios Sobre la Libertad (CDEL), the Grove City College, and the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) are exhibited outside of such cataloging due to their relative relevance, and Mont Pèlerin Society and the Walter Lippmann Colloquium since they are instances of the global organization of the movement 6 .
|
Type of institution |
Institution |
Quantity |
Percentage |
|
|
Universities |
University of Chicago, USA. |
5 |
47 |
24% |
|
New York University, USA |
5 |
|||
|
Francisco de Marroquín University, Guatemala8 |
5 |
|||
|
Rockford College, USA |
3 |
|||
|
Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA |
3 |
|||
|
Campbell College, North Carolina, USA. |
2 |
|||
|
Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA. |
2 |
|||
|
Stanford University |
2 |
|||
|
Claremont Men's College; Claremont, California, USA |
1 |
|||
|
London School of Economics (LSE), England.9 |
1 |
|||
|
Huntintog College |
1 |
|||
|
Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio, USA |
1 |
|||
|
Spring Harbor College |
1 |
|||
|
Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina |
1 |
|||
|
Bethany University, West Virginia, USA |
1 |
|||
|
Bue's Greek University, North Carolina, USA. |
1 |
|||
|
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. |
2 |
|||
|
Georgentown University |
1 |
|||
|
Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India |
1 |
|||
|
Political Science Department, Massachusetts University, USA. |
1 |
|||
|
University of Michigan, USA. |
1 |
|||
|
Center for Economic Education, University of Tennessee, USA |
1 |
|||
|
University of Washington |
1 |
|||
|
Yale University |
1 |
|||
|
Universidad del Museo Social Argentino, Argentina |
1 |
|||
|
University of Oklahoma |
1 |
|||
|
Kent State University |
1 |
|||
|
FEE |
The Foundation for Economic Education, New York. |
33 |
33 |
17% |
|
CDEL |
Centro de Difusión de la Economía Libre Argentina |
27 |
27 |
14% |
|
Grove City College |
Grove City College, Pensilvania, USA. |
16 |
16 |
8% |
|
Business institutions (Companies or business groups) |
Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Companies, Peru. |
2 |
11 |
6% |
|
Bank -without specification-. |
1 |
|||
|
Argentine Chamber of Commerce |
1 |
|||
|
Argentine Chamber of Construction |
1 |
|||
|
E. F. Hutton & Co. 10 |
1 |
|||
|
Federation of British Industries |
1 |
|||
|
First National City Bank of New York |
1 |
|||
|
James U. Blanchard & Company, New Orleans, Louisiana. |
1 |
|||
|
The Flying A. Magazine of Aeroquip Corporation. In Jackson, Michigan |
1 |
|||
|
The Morgan Guaranty Survey 11 |
1 |
|||
|
Newspapers |
Wall Street Journal |
4 |
10 |
5% |
|
Diario Caracas |
2 |
|||
|
New York Times |
2 |
|||
|
La Prensa, Buenos Aires, Argentina. |
1 |
|||
|
Think it Through - Unspecified journalistic column-. |
1 |
|||
|
Journals |
Human Events, USA. |
3 |
8 |
4% |
|
Baron's and Newsweek, USA. |
2 |
|||
|
New Individualist Review, Chicago, USA. |
1 |
|||
|
The Monist - Philosophy Magazine-. |
1 |
|||
|
The Objectivist Newsletter - publication directed by Ayn Rand-. |
1 |
|||
|
Public-State Bodies |
Supreme Court, New Zealand |
2 |
7 |
4% |
|
House of Representatives, USA |
1 |
|||
|
Federal Court of Appeals of La Plata, Argentina. |
1 |
|||
|
The Congress of the Philippines |
1 |
|||
|
Courts of Spain |
1 |
|||
|
North American delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission under the presidency of R. Reagan |
1 |
|||
|
Research institutes |
American Enterprise Institute |
2 |
6 |
3% |
|
American Institute for Economic Research, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA. |
1 |
|||
|
Swiss Institute of International Studies |
1 |
|||
|
Intercollegiate Society of Individualist, Philadelphia |
1 |
|||
|
Northwood Institute, Michigan |
1 |
|||
|
Think Tanks |
William Volker Fund, California. |
2 |
6 |
3% |
|
First Principles in Morality and Economics. Libertarian Press publication, South Holland, Illinois, USA12 |
1 |
|||
|
Le Point de Rencontre Liberal-Spiritualiste13 |
1 |
|||
|
Pro- Free Enterprise Society, Philippines. |
1 |
|||
|
The Mackinac Center in Midland, Michigan.14 |
1 |
|||
|
Latin American Centers linked to CDE |
Centro de Estudios Económico-Sociales, Guatemala15 . |
1 |
5 |
3% |
|
Centro de Investigaciones de la Libre Empresa, Mexico.16 |
1 |
|||
|
Escuela Libre de Derecho, México |
1 |
|||
|
ESEADE (Escuela Superior de Economía y Administración de Empresas), Argentina. |
1 |
|||
|
Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales y Económicas, México. |
1 |
|||
|
National Academies-Academic Associations |
National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, Argentina. |
1 |
5 |
3% |
|
National Academy of Economic Sciences, Argentina. |
1 |
|||
|
American Society for Aesthetics, USA17 . |
1 |
|||
|
Aristotelian Society, England18 . |
1 |
|||
|
Royal Institute of Philosophy, England.19 |
1 |
|||
|
Mont Pèlerin Society- Walter Lippmann Colloquium |
Mont Pèlerin Society |
4 |
5 |
3% |
|
Walter Lippmann Colloquium (1938) in International Institute for Intellectual Cooperation |
1 |
|||
|
Religious institutions |
Farmand -Seminary-, Norway. |
1 |
4 |
2% |
|
Catholic Church |
1 |
|||
|
Seminary of the Holy Cross, Stonehill College and the Gregorian University of Rome. |
1 |
|||
|
Seminary -without data regarding religious affiliation-. |
1 |
|||
|
Professional associations |
Buenos Aires Bar Association |
2 |
2 |
1% |
|
Political parties |
Libertarian Liberal Party, USA. |
1 |
1 |
1% |
|
Total |
|
193 |
193 |
100% |
Source: Self-made based on Ideas Sobre la Libertad N° 1 to N° 54.
llows us to observe that such works were 24% written by people institutionally linked to Universities, 17% to theFoundation for Economic Education (FFE) -which could well be added to the Think Tanks conglomerate-, 14% to CDEL, 8% to Grove City College; 6% to business institutions, either companies or business associations; 5% to newspapers, 4% to magazines, 4% to public or state bodies, 3% to Research Institutes, 3% to non-Latin American Think Tanks with manifest theoretical ideological identification, 3% to Peer Broadcast Centers of the Argentine CDEL, 3% to National Academies or academic associations, 3% to parent organizations, Mont Pèlerin Society and the Walter Lippmann Colloquium; 2% to religious institutions, and 1%, respectively, to professional associations and political parties.
Subject position
Finally, we present in Table 4 -available below- the positions held by the authors published in Ideas Sobre la Libertad between December 1958 and December 1989 in the aforementioned institutions, to observe their potential influence 7 .
|
Position |
Total (1) |
Percentage |
|
Teacher |
46 |
22,9% |
|
President |
31 |
15,4% |
|
Director |
19 |
9,5% |
|
Member |
17 |
8,5% |
|
Journalist |
10 |
5,0% |
|
Student |
8 |
4,0% |
|
Researcher |
5 |
2,5% |
|
Writing team member |
5 |
2,5% |
|
Spokesperson of the Management Board |
5 |
2,5% |
|
Adviser |
4 |
2,0% |
|
Collaborator |
4 |
2,0% |
|
Dean |
4 |
2,0% |
|
Vice president |
4 |
2,0% |
|
Businessman |
3 |
1,5% |
|
Rector |
3 |
1,5% |
|
Affiliate |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Co director |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Editor |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Executive Member |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Attorney |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Owner |
2 |
1,0% |
|
Adherent |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Presidential candidate |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Information Coordinator |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Literary critic |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Deputy |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Playwright (artist) |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Chief Economist |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Former deputy |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Philosopher |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Official |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Founder |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Investor |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Head of the Department of Economics |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Judge |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Corresponding Member in Madrid |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Advisory Council Member |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Member of the Management Board |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Priest |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Reverend |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Secretary |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Vice rector |
1 |
0,5% |
Source: Self-made based on Ideas Sobre la Libertad N° 1 to 54.
The relative quantity is given by the number of articles
The information available in Table 4 allows us to observe:
• a strong pre-eminence of positions of high institutional hierarchy in the writers of Ideas Sobre la Libertad in the organizations of which they form part. They hold, in the institutions in which they participate, the position of president by 15%, vice president by 2%, manager by 9.5%, rector by 1.5%, vice president by 0.5%, and dean by 2%-;
• an intense presence of members of the cultural and discursive doing, in all the gradualness of the intellectual spectrum in the Gramscian sense -teachers by 22.9%, researchers by 2.5%, journalists by 5%, journalistic writers by 2 5%, editors by 1%, playwrights by 0.5%, literary critics by 0.5%, religious-priests by 0.5%, and reverend by 5%-,
• as well as, to a lesser extent, public officials (0.5% presidential candidates, 0.5% deputies; 0.5% former deputies, 0.5% current officials) and businessmen (entrepreneurs by 1.5%, owners by 1%, and investors by 0.5%).
The analysis thus far carried out of the articles published in Ideas Sobre la Libertad, allows replicating the Monpelerian structure as an organization that brings together different social sectors at the service of the establishment of a discursive order that guarantees the establishment and maintenance of the neoliberal order. It allows us to observe them as instances of strong political articulation, far from the alleged objectivity and value neutrality from which scientific knowledge and the Montelerian movement intend to present themself.
CONCLUSIONS
The work that we are about to conclude has revealed, for the readiness of the reader and other researchers dedicated to the study of neoliberalism as a political, business, and intellectual movement, the authors whose work has been disseminated in the periodical publication of the Centro de Difusión de la Economía Libre- later called the Centro de Estudios Sobre la Libertad-, the journal Ideas Sobre la Libertad, in the period in which it was published, December 1958 to December 1989. As well as their institutional origin, the character of such institutions, and the hierarchical position that they occupied in the entities of origin, those that MichelFoucault (2002) calls instances of discursive delimitation.
This to give an account of the institutional framework destined to provide -to the different centers that various members of the Mont Pèlerín Society founded in different parts of the globe- a discursive framework that allows them -in their local space- to fight at the level of the significance and interpretation of social reality the advancement of communism, the welfare state, socialism, and the various forms that were assimilated to them and that, in their view, put capitalism in check in the way in which they wanted to implement it.
The members of the Mont Pèlerin Society created various institutes throughout Latin America and the globe in the mid-20th century. The Centro de Difusión de la Economía Libre, directed by the monpelerines Alberto Benegas Lynch, is one of them. This institution publishes periodical publications, such as the one analyzed here, non-periodical publications, articles distributed in the local press, and conferences (Büren, 2014).
The analysis of the authors whose works were published in ISL has allowed us to observe that with some preeminence they belonged to the Austrian School of Economics -one of the founding Schools of Mont Pèlerin Society together with the Chicago School and the Social Market Economy-, that were not only constituted by intellectuals doomed to abstract thinking and theoretical reflection, but also by businessmen, leaders of business associations, and public officials.
The approach to the institutional origin of the authors has shown that their works were not produced only with the sponsorship and material support of merely academic and/or neutral spaces; but fundamentally from business, journalistic, political, and religious spheres and from think tanks. This does not mean that they leave the academic and cultural field free of intervention, it also constitutes a battlespace as a place of formation and discursive diffusion and construction of meaning.
The research into the position of the authors in the institutions from which they wrote, shows their leadership character, whether in the business or academic sphere, as presidents of companies and business conglomerates or rectors.
From the case study of a local publication, we have been able to observe the nature of the practices developed by Mont Pèlerin Society, of the discursive framework elaborated by it, and the strategic articulation that is proposed for the defense of interests of a specific sector of capitalism of the 20th century.
Finally, we invite you to delve into the link between the work previously developed with the current circulation of fake news, with reflections on disinformation processes due to news saturation and with what -in Argentina- is currently called post-truth -nomination lately used to characterize the enunciative formulations coming from local right-wings and the media that accompany them- a contemporary replacement of the group that analyzed this work would lead us to address, on the one hand, the Escuela Superior de Economía y Administración de Empresas (ESEADE), an institution founded by Alberto Benegas Lynch (son) in 1978 with financial help from businessmen linked to the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange to give continuity to the work previously carried out by his father in the Centro de Difusión de la Economía Libre (Lynch, 2007) and, on the other hand, the Fundación Libertad, an institution in charge of organizing the Meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society in Argentina in 2011 (Fundación Libertad, 2011) in which Mauricio Macri was invited, and the institution that awarded its Libertad prize, after the electoral triumph of the aforementioned, to Jorge Lanata at his end-of-year dinner in 2015. Tribute to the journalist who had the words of the newly elected president and Mario Vargas Llosa, an important member of Society (Macri, 2015; Fundación Libertad, 2015)
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AUTHORS:
María Paula de Büren
Doctor in Social Sciences, Magister in Economic Development for Latin America, and Bachelor of Economics. She worked in the field of teaching and research at various universities (UBA; UNPAZ; UNVM). She financed her postgraduate studies through CONICET doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships and the Tuition and Maintenance Scholarship from the Universidad Internacional de Andalucía. She published numerous papers that deal with what Foucault understands as the art of neoliberal government, a problem on which she focused her doctoral studies where she analyzed the main ideas behind one of the central currents of the neoliberal movement: the Austrian School of Economics, as well as the international strategies carried out for its hegemonic rise and its arrival in the Argentine space.
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4234-0287