Rüstow proposed a probationary chancellor dictatorship to check parliamentarianism

Evidence

In this paper delivered to the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik in Berlin, Rüstow also discussed the question of how to strengthen state leadership against parliamentarian democracy while respecting the Weimar Constitution. Once again referring to Carl Schmitt, Rüstow suggested a version of chancellor dictatorship, which would open up the opportunity to “within certain limits implement measures first, but later-on subject them to discussion in order to maintain democracy.” At this point, Rüstow was apparently convinced of the principle of plebiscitary leadership, although at the same time he did emphasize a temporal character of dictatorship, “so to say a dictatorship on probation” (Rüstow 1959, 99). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 527

Categorization

• XREF: Reveals the Schmittian authoritarian genealogy inside the supposed liberal founding of ordoliberalism — contrasts with later ordoliberal presentation as a rule-of-law tradition.
• QUESTION: Worth tracing: did Rüstow’s ‘dictatorship on probation’ survive into the mature ordoliberal theory, or was it later repudiated?
• SEED: Article angle: how the founders of Germany’s postwar economic order flirted with dictatorial leadership — the authoritarian substratum of ordoliberalism.