Ordoliberalism governs market rules but forbids steering market outcomes

Evidence

The ambivalent role of the state in the ordoliberal version of neoliberalism is present in founding thinker Walter Eucken’s definition of the principles of economic policy. The first principle, Eucken argues, is that “the policy of the state should be focused on dissolving power groups or at limiting their functioning.” The second principle dictates that “the politico-economic activity of the state should focus on the regulation of the economy, not on the guidance of the economic process.” Whereas the first principle stresses the need for a strong state for political engineering (Ordnungspolitik), the second (regarding Prozesspolitik) stresses avoiding interventionist policies against the market mechanism. Ordoliberalism advocated influencing the rules of the game, not the process. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 613

Categorization

• DEFINE: Documents Eucken’s twin principles — Ordnungspolitik vs Prozesspolitik — the core ordoliberal distinction between shaping rules and guiding process.
• XREF: Pairs with the ‘planning for the market’ framing and with conceptions of the strong liberal state in Mises/Hayek debates. — connects to: Ordoliberalism reframes the state as rule setter, not demand manager — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 355; Postwar liberal revivalists framed state intervention as a neutral arbiter protecting market rules — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 194; The market must be actively constituted by political intervention, not discovered — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1852 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Ordoliberalism makes state policy the guardian of fragile market mechanisms #expands (0.90) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1258
• Anti-monopoly law in ordoliberalism blocks external distortions rather than intervening in the market itself. #exemplifies (0.85) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 761
• The neoliberal state governs for the market, not because of it. #qualifies (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 111