Discovering neoliberal legality: the reconfiguration of the Rule of Law according to Hayek

Abstract

This research aims to analyze and understand the relationship between law and neoliberalism demonstrated in the reconfiguration of the rule of law by neoliberal rationality. The main hypothesis is that the emergence of neoliberalism led to great changes in the understanding of the rule of law. Law assumes an important role in the neoliberal project as a whole, insofar as the law conceives, constructs and gives coherence to the neoliberal order through institutions and norms. Without this, neoliberalism could not be a legal project as well as an economic, political and ideological scheme. The research consists of answering the following questions: what is neoliberal rationality and what is its ideal of rule of law? and how does neoliberalism transform the current rule of law? Starting from the work of Friedrich A. von Hayek it is analyzed how this legal-political ideal reconfigures the rule of law. In conclusion, the research shows that legal-political ideals of liberty and the neoliberal “nomos” shape a specific conception of the rule of law, opposing both classic social and liberal welfare models.