“Large Switzerland” or “Large France”? The Ordoliberals and Early European Integration

This chapter reconstructs the formative decades of European integration from the perspective of three German political economists: the ordoliberals Wilhelm Röpke, Ludwig Erhard, and Alfred Müller-Armack. In their multiple roles of theorists, public intellectuals, and policymakers, the ordoliberals shaped the incipient integration process from the immediate postwar years to the mid-1960s. They outlined two potential trajectories for the European project. While both imply a common market, the “large Switzerland” trajectory stands for political decentralization and non-protectionism, while the “large France” trajectory leads to political centralization and protectionism. The ordoliberals openly preferred the former, especially its emphasis on subsidiarity and federalism. The chapter concludes by identifying a movement toward a “large France” since the mid-1980s and discusses the reformability of today’s European Union toward a “large Switzerland.”