Ordoliberalism, European Monetary Union and State Power

Abstract

The capitalist state is the indispensable power of a free labor economy. Its class character is not founded on a national basis. Rather it is founded on the world market relations of capitalist wealth and includes a history of suffering. The article scrutinizes ordoliberalism as a veritable statement about the character of capitalist society and its state. In the contemporary debate about the ordoliberalization of Europe, its argument about capitalist labor economy as a practice of government is put aside and instead it is identified with a certain 'German' preference for austerity and seemingly also technocratic governance, undermining the European democracies and leading to calls for the resurgence of the national democratic state that governs for the many. In these accounts, illusion dominates reality. In distinction, the argument attempted here scrutinizes the role of the member states in monetary union as executive states of the bond that unites them. Monetary union strengthens the member states as 'planners for competition' and is entirely dependent upon their capacity to govern accordingly.

Indicative Planning and France's Backstage Contribution to Eurozone Governance

“…This understanding of the macroeconomic fortunes of France and Germany has significantly framed our conceptual understandings of Eurozone governance. Specifically, the literature has overwhelmingly contrasted a market‐led retreat of French dirigisme with the relative significance of German ordoliberalism (Feld et al 2015; Biebricher and Vogelmann 2017; Cardwell and Snaith 2018; Slobodian 2018; Bonefeld 2019; Warlouzet 2019; Nedergaard 2020). Ordoliberalism proposed a ‘third way’ for capitalism between laissez‐faire liberalism and the interwar spectre of socialist planning.…”

“…Quinn Slobodian, for example, agrees that ‘neoliberal thought has not mapped directly onto reality’ but nevertheless makes it central to his concept of market ‘encasement’ (Slobodian 2018, p. 19). Likewise, despite Werner Bonefeld arguing that ‘illusion dominates reality’ in arguments that ordoliberalism is a faithful political project pursued by German elites in Europe, he nevertheless uses it as his vantage point from which to interpret the EU (Bonefeld 2019).…”

The elimination of political demands: Ordoliberalism, the big society and the depoliticization of co-operatives

“…Nevertheless, we wish to emphasize that the term ordoliberalism still has analytical purchase. That is because we see ordoliberal texts as the sophisticated expression of some principles and language which governments de facto use to manage the capitalist contradictions between accumulation and legitimation (Bonefeld, 2017, 2019). A central legislative and discursive tool here is depoliticization, which is a legitimation attempt aimed at resisting and eliminating political demands.…”

“…Rather, we see the study of ordoliberalism and its thinkers as a useful lens which enhances our understanding of some government policies and language. Indeed, a number of authors including Werner Bonefeld (2012a, 2012b, 2015, 2017, 2019) and Johanna Oksala (2011, 2017) have highlighted the usefulness in applying an ordoliberal lens to Britain, the EU and beyond. The argument is that ordoliberal thought sheds light on some governmental tools, especially rhetorical, of legitimation that those countries use – tools which represent state attempts to govern and stabilize capitalist economies (Bonefeld, 2017, 2019).…”

“…Indeed, a number of authors including Werner Bonefeld (2012a, 2012b, 2015, 2017, 2019) and Johanna Oksala (2011, 2017) have highlighted the usefulness in applying an ordoliberal lens to Britain, the EU and beyond. The argument is that ordoliberal thought sheds light on some governmental tools, especially rhetorical, of legitimation that those countries use – tools which represent state attempts to govern and stabilize capitalist economies (Bonefeld, 2017, 2019). This article contributes to this argument in the British context, effectively proposing that in trying to manage successive crises of capitalism, governments since Thatcher have employed legislative and discursive techniques of legitimation akin to those favoured by the ordoliberals.…”