Under Ordoliberalism the state itself is defined and supervised by the market.

Evidence

Neoliberal states thus depart from liberal ones as they become radically economic in a triple sense: The state secures, advances, and props the economy; the state’s purpose is to facilitate the economy, and the state’s legitimacy is linked to the growth of the economy—as an overt actor on behalf of the economy, the state also becomes responsible for the economy. State action, state purpose, and state legitimacy: each is economized by neoliberalism. The Ordoliberals carried this even further: the market economy should also be the principle of the state’s internal regulation and organization. Reversing the liberal formulation in which a free market is defined and supervised by the state, for them, the state should be defined and supervised by the market. In short, the state itself should be economized. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 113

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the distinction between classical liberalism (market supervised by state) and Ordoliberalism (state supervised by market).
• XREF: Connects to German ordoliberal economic constitutionalism and current EU fiscal rules (debt brakes, Maastricht criteria) — the state internally redesigned on market principles. — connects to: Ordoliberalism makes state policy the guardian of fragile market mechanisms — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1258; Ordoliberalism governs market rules but forbids steering market outcomes — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 613; The neoliberal state governs for the market, not because of it. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 111 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Ordoliberalism governs market rules but forbids steering market outcomes #expands (0.88) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 613
• The neoliberal state governs for the market, not because of it. #corroborates (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 111
• Ordoliberalism reframes the state as rule setter, not demand manager #corroborates (0.85) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 355
• Neo-liberalism’s real objective is the market’s formalization of the state and society #corroborates (0.80) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 678
• Neoliberalism reversed the state’s protective role toward shielding markets #corroborates (0.77) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 745