Ordoliberals wanted to reduce democratic participation to protect the market

Evidence

Particularly during the early period, we have ample evidence that the emerging ordoliberal camp was not ready to accept public opinion formation under conditions of parliamentarian democracy, with people freely expressing and mediating diverging interests and economic positions (Ptak 2002). The ordoliberals’ prescriptions were constructed according to the ideas of Ordnungspolitik: societal participation in decision making was to be reduced so as to affirm decisions taken on behalf of the public, all in the name of freeing the market economy from destructive group interests, turning it toward a competitive order, and letting it thereby realize its alleged inherent social potential. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 525

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Ordnungspolitik as state-ordered decision making that curtails societal participation in the name of freeing the market.
• XREF: Reverses the common assumption that market liberalism pairs naturally with democracy; echoes the book’s argument that ordoliberalism was anti-democratic. — connects to: Ordoliberalism justifies replacing democratic governance with rules and the ECB — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 377; Ordoliberals condemned consumerism as a marker of mass society — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 213; Neoliberal market discipline was adopted to pacify unruly democratic publics — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 122 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Ordoliberalism entailed an authoritarian skepticism toward democracy #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 557
• Ordoliberalism institutionalized competition policy and an independent central bank against parliamentary control #exemplifies (0.85) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 364