Although the CFE was originally established upon the libertarian belief according to the philosophy of Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises, in later years, it expressed neoconservative, authoritarian or even McCarthyist ideas. For example, CFE enthusiastically advocated the nationalization of history textbooks in Korea, which was mainly discussed under the Park Geun-hye administration. Some libertarian scholars considered that the CFE had ruined libertarian ideas. However, after the impeachment of the Park administration, in 2017, the CFE changed its name from "자유경제원" to "자유기업원".
