Why and How has German Ordoliberalism Become a French Issue? Some Aspects about Ordoliberal Thoughts we can Learn from the French Reception

Abstract

In recent years, as evidenced by several books, essays and political controversies, the German ordoliberal doctrine has become part of the public debate in France. In the main, this has to be understood against the backdrop of the Eurozone crisis. But, in actual fact, it is since the beginning of the 1960s that one can speak of a French corpus concerning the reception and discussion of the German ordoliberal doctrine. This chapter looks at three major waves of how the ordoliberal school of thought was received in France in order to analyse what we can learn from its reception: to wit, from the beginning of the 1960s onwards, at the turn of the century, and since the outset of the Eurozone crisis. Through these developments, four main issues are addressed. First, we present the theoretical re-reading of the content and scope of ordoliberalism with a view to the (neo-) liberal tradition in the light of another national cultural tradition. Second, we synthesise the discussion on ordoliberalism ' s contribution to the German miracle after WWII, and, upon this basis, show that the French reception of ordoliberalism has enriched the content of the theoretical, as well as the empirical, debates on the ' German model ' . Third, ordoliberalism is considered as a key controversy -especially between both sides of the Rhine -not 11 Fran ç ois Bilger , La pens é e é conomique lib é rale dans l ' Allemagne contemporaine , ( Paris : Librairie G é n é rale de Droit et de Jurisprudence , 1964 ), p 131 .12 Surprisingly, the infl uence of Husserl on Eucken ' s work was almost totally ignored by Bilger. 13 Bilger, n 11 above, p 140.