Debunking the Myth of the Ordoliberal Influence on Post-war European Integration

Abstract

References to ordoliberal infl uence in the context of German and EuropeanCommunity/Union economic regulations, and competition rules in particular, are frequently made by scholars and politicians alike. Moreover, ordoliberalism is often confl ated with the German postwar social market economy, and hence portrayed as distinctively different from neoliberalism. This chapter argues that the role of ordoliberals and ordoliberal thinking tends to be exaggerated: ordoliberalism should not be mistaken with the notion of social market economy, nor seen as dissimilar from neoliberalism. Moreover, the chapter demonstrates that the role of ordoliberals in the formulation and subsequent enforcement of competition rules both in Germany and at European Community level has been marginal at best.