Ordoliberals borrowed Schmitt’s diagnosis of the state but rejected his authoritarian conclusions
Evidence
While Reuter (1999, 72) recognizes the agreement of the neoliberal founding papers with Schmitt’s analysis of the state, “they did not draw his conclusions.” According to Reuter, “the difference is clear: Rüstow demanded the return of the liberal state, which additionally was to be in charge of protecting competition by establishing rules and supervising compliance.” Milene Wegmann (2002) completely missed the double meaning of the term total state in her effort to contradict researchers who have correctly emphasized a close relationship between Rüstow’s and Schmitt’s state theory. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 577
Categorization
- XREF: Reinforces the book’s central argument about the Schmitt-ordinate liberal connection; Wegmann’s misreading shows how the double meaning of ‘total state’ tripped up even scholars. — connects to: Neoliberalism’s double-truth doctrine originated in Hayek’s covert borrowing from Schmitt — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 239; Hayek’s political solution resembled Schmitt’s total state despite his liberal self-image — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 2146; Neumann rejected the idea of crisis-free noncapitalist state control as fanciful — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1171 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Hayek’s political solution resembled Schmitt’s total state despite his liberal self-image
#complicates(0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2146 - Carl Schmitt’s writings link political theology to total enmity and the total state.
#expands(0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1814 - Neumann rejected the idea of crisis-free noncapitalist state control as fanciful
#qualifies(0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1171 - Discussion defined parliamentarism for Schmitt, not majority rule alone
#responds-to(0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 452