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Reflections on Werner Bonefeld's 'Freedom and the Strong State: On German Ordoliberalism' and the Continuing Importance of the Ideas of Ordoliberalism to Understand Germany's (Contested) Role in Resolving the Eurozone Crisis

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  • Volker Berghahn
  • Brigitte Young

Abstract

A historian and a political scientist take issue with Bonefeld's interpretation of ordoliberalism from the viewpoint of our historical knowledge of the Freiburg School. Our major disagreement is with Bonefeld's underlying assumption that the ideas of the Freiburgers on strong state authority were very durable and continued to be so across a divide as great as that of 1945 when a more strictly chronological use of the sources would have shown significant transformations. The earlier quasi proto-fascist ideas of the strong state were replaced with a much more muted role for the state in providing a constitutional framework in which the market forces could develop. It is through this break with their own initial sympathy with Hitler's strong state that the ideas of the Freiburger Ordnungspolitik underwent profound changes to a constitutional state as guarantor of economic stability, and only in this changed form do the ideas of a legal rule-based system of the Freiburger ordoliberals continue to play an important role in understanding Germany's role in resolving the Euro crisis. It is this significant shift, in the ideas of ordoliberals, that is missing in Bonefeld's article.

Suggested Citation

  • Volker Berghahn & Brigitte Young, 2013. "Reflections on Werner Bonefeld's 'Freedom and the Strong State: On German Ordoliberalism' and the Continuing Importance of the Ideas of Ordoliberalism to Understand Germany's (Contested) Role in Resol," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(5), pages 768-778, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:cnpexx:v:18:y:2013:i:5:p:768-778
    DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2013.736959
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    1. Berghahn, Volker R., 2010. "Ludwig Erhard, die Freiburger Schule und das 'Amerikanische Jahrhundert'," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 10/1, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
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    Cited by:

    1. Malte Dold & Tim Krieger, 2023. "The ideological use and abuse of Freiburg’s ordoliberalism," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 195(3), pages 341-361, June.
    2. Nedergaard, Peter, 2013. "The Influence of Ordoliberalism in European Integration Processes - A Framework for Ideational Influence with Competition Policy and the Economic and Monetary Policy as Examples," MPRA Paper 52331, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Schneider, Sebastian, 2014. "Varieties of capitalism, varieties of crisis response Bank bailouts in comparative perspective," PIPE - Papers on International Political Economy 21/2014, Free University Berlin, Center for International Political Economy.
    4. Ali Rıza Güngen, 2016. "Whatever it takes? The European Central Bank's Sovereign Debt Interventions in the Eurozone Crisis," Yildiz Social Science Review, Yildiz Technical University, vol. 2(2), pages 39-52.
    5. Antonio Di Majo, 2020. "Democrazia di Bilancio e Governo delle Finanze pubbliche nella storia del Budgeting pubblico," Working papers 86, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    6. Anselm Küsters, 2022. "Applying Lessons from the Past? Exploring Historical Analogies in ECB Speeches through Text Mining, 1997–2019," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 18(1), pages 277-329, March.
    7. Arnaud Lechevalier, 2015. "Eucken under the Pillow: The Ordoliberal Imprint on Social Europe," Post-Print halshs-03781875, HAL.
    8. Antonio Di Majo, 2020. "Budgeting pubblico, democrazia di bilancio, governo delle finanze pubbliche: la storia di una complessa interazione (Public budgeting, budet democracy, and public finances governance: History of a com," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 73(291), pages 237-259.
    9. Mertens, Daniel, 2015. "Erst sparen, dann kaufen? Privatverschuldung in Deutschland," Schriften aus dem Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, volume 82, number 82.
    10. Vanberg, Viktor J., 2014. "Ordnungspolitik, the Freiburg School and the reason of rules," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 14/01, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    11. Feld Lars P. & Köhler Ekkehard A. & Nientiedt Daniel, 2018. "Die Europäische Währungsunion aus traditioneller und moderner ordnungsökonomischer Perspektive," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 69(1), pages 65-84, July.
    12. Hall, Stephen & Roelich, Katy E. & Davis, Mark E. & Holstenkamp, Lars, 2018. "Finance and justice in low-carbon energy transitions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 772-780.

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