Like other authors in this volume, I suggest that we might better understand neoliberalism not as a collection of foregone conclusions and formulae, let alone as the final chapter in human history, but as a set of open-ended problems and questions. Among the unresolved questions faced by neoliberals are those of culture (are all populations equally capable of rational market activity?), of design (can institutions and laws be made or must they grow?), of legitimacy (how can markets survive despite their frequent cruelty?), of leadership (can judges, autocrats, central bankers, or businesspeople offer reliable guardians of order?), and of democracy (can it be contained and directed or must it be escaped?). While the final goal of creating a competitive order immunized from popular demands for social justice remains constant over time, neoliberal strategies for arriving at the goal change considerably.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 162