The Colloque Walter Lippmann was a meeting of intellectuals organized in Paris in August 1938 by French philosopher Louis Rougier

Louis Rougier

Louis Auguste Paul Rougier was a French philosopher. Rougier made many important contributions to epistemology, philosophy of science, political philosophy and the history of Christianity.-Biography:Rougier was born in Lyon...

. After the 1920s and 1930s saw a decline in the interest for classical liberalism

Classical liberalism

Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....

 the aim was to construct a new Liberalism as a rejection of collectivism

Collectivism

Collectivism is any philosophic, political, economic, mystical or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists usually focus on community, society, or nation...

, socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 and laissez-faire liberalism. At that meeting the term neoliberalism

Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...

 was coined by Alexander Rüstow

Alexander Rüstow

Alexander Rüstow was a German sociologist and economist. He originated the term neoliberalism meant as a synonym for Ordoliberalism but the term has undergone a change of meaning. He was one of the fathers of the "Social Market Economy" that shaped the economy of West-Germany after World War II...

 referring to the rejection of the (old) laissez-faire liberalism.

The meeting was named after Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann was an American intellectual, writer, reporter, and political commentator famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War...

, an American journalist whose new book La Cité libre was studied in detail at the meeting." 26 intellectuals took part in this meeting, including some of the most prominent liberal thinkers : Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann was an American intellectual, writer, reporter, and political commentator famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War...

, Wilhelm Röpke

Wilhelm Röpke

Wilhelm Röpke was Professor of Economics, first in Jena, then in Graz, Marburg, Istanbul and finally in Geneva, and the main spiritual father of the German social market economy, theorising and collaborating to organise the post-World War II economic re-awakening of the then destroyed German...

, Alexander Rüstow

Alexander Rüstow

Alexander Rüstow was a German sociologist and economist. He originated the term neoliberalism meant as a synonym for Ordoliberalism but the term has undergone a change of meaning. He was one of the fathers of the "Social Market Economy" that shaped the economy of West-Germany after World War II...

, Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...

, Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises was an Austrian economist, philosopher, and classical liberal who had a significant influence on the modern Libertarian movement and the "Austrian School" of economic thought.-Biography:-Early life:...

, Michael Polanyi

Michael Polanyi

Michael Polanyi, FRS was a Hungarian–British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and the theory of knowledge...

, Raymond Aron

Raymond Aron

Raymond-Claude-Ferdinand Aron was a French philosopher, sociologist, journalist and political scientist.He is best known for his 1955 book The Opium of the Intellectuals, the title of which inverts Karl Marx's claim that religion was the opium of the people -- in contrast, Aron argued that in...

, Louis Rougier

Louis Rougier

Louis Auguste Paul Rougier was a French philosopher. Rougier made many important contributions to epistemology, philosophy of science, political philosophy and the history of Christianity.-Biography:Rougier was born in Lyon...

, Jacques Rueff

Jacques Rueff

Jacques Rueff was a French economist and adviser to the French Government.An influential French conservative and free market thinker, Rueff was born the son of a well known Parisian physician and studied economics and mathematics at the École Polytechnique...

 etc. and some entrepreneurs Ernest Mercier

Ernest Mercier

Ernest Mercier was a French industrialist, director of the French Petroleum Company , the forerunner of the French petroleum conglomerate Total...

 etc.

The participants chose to set up an organization to promote liberalism but it had few consequences because of the war. Nonetheless, it inspired Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...

 in the creation of the Mont Pelerin Society

Mont Pelerin Society

The Mont Pelerin Society is an international organization composed of economists , philosophers, historians, intellectuals, business leaders, and others who favour classical liberalism...

.