IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v195y2023i3d10.1007_s11127-021-00876-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Was Walter Eucken a proponent of authoritarian liberalism?

Author

Listed:
  • Ekkehard A. Köhler

    (University of Siegen)

  • Daniel Nientiedt

    (New York University)

Abstract

The paper asks whether Walter Eucken, the founder of German ordoliberalism, should be considered to be a proponent of authoritarian liberalism. That term originally refers to a proposal for economic liberalization advanced by Carl Schmitt in 1932. Authoritarian liberalism also could be taken to mean that Eucken favors the rule of law and economic freedoms, but rejects democratic decision making. Both possible meanings are considered. We show that Eucken is not a representative of authoritarian liberalism in either sense of the term. While Eucken and Schmitt offer similar descriptions of the entanglement of state and economy in Weimar Germany, their proposed solutions are rather different. With regard to the second meaning, we argue that Eucken’s critique of democracy refers to two universally recognized problems of democratic decision making, namely interest group influence and the tyranny of the majority.

Suggested Citation

  • Ekkehard A. Köhler & Daniel Nientiedt, 2023. "Was Walter Eucken a proponent of authoritarian liberalism?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 195(3), pages 363-376, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:195:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11127-021-00876-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-021-00876-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11127-021-00876-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11127-021-00876-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sharun W Mukand & Dani Rodrik, 2020. "The Political Economy of Liberal Democracy," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(627), pages 765-792.
    2. Jean-Baptiste Fleury & Alain Marciano, 2018. "The Sound of Silence: A Review Essay of Nancy MacLean's Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1492-1537, December.
    3. Niclas Berggren & Jerg Gutmann, 2020. "Securing personal freedom through institutions: the role of electoral democracy and judicial independence," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 165-186, April.
    4. George J. Stigler, 1971. "The Theory of Economic Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 2(1), pages 3-21, Spring.
    5. Ronald Wintrobe, 2018. "An economic theory of a hybrid (competitive authoritarian or illiberal) regime," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 217-233, December.
    6. David N. Laband & John P. Sophocleus, 2019. "Measuring rent-seeking," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 49-69, October.
    7. Viktor Vanberg, 2011. "Liberal constitutionalism, constitutional liberalism and democracy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-20, March.
    8. Werner Bonefeld, 2012. "Freedom and the Strong State: On German Ordoliberalism," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 633-656, November.
    9. Hayek, F. A. & Caldwell, Bruce, 2007. "The Road to Serfdom," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226320540 edited by Caldwell, Bruce, Febrero.
    10. Dathe, Uwe, 2009. "Walter Euckens Weg zum Liberalismus (1918-1934)," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 09/10, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    11. Georg Vanberg, 2018. "Constitutional political economy, democratic theory and institutional design," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 199-216, December.
    12. Burgin, Angus, 2012. "The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free Markets since the Depression," Economics Books, Harvard University Press, number 9780674058132, march.
    13. Caldwell, Bruce & Montes, Leonidas, 2015. "Friedrich Hayek and his visits to Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 63318, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Richard Wagner, 2015. "Virginia political economy: a rational reconstruction," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 15-29, April.
    15. Bruce Caldwell & Leonidas Montes, 2015. "Friedrich Hayek and his visits to Chile," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 261-309, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lars P. Feld & Daniel Nientiedt, 2023. "The Freiburg School and the Virginia School: introduction to the special issue," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 195(3), pages 193-196, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefan Kolev & Nils Goldschmidt & Jan-Otmar Hesse, 2020. "Debating liberalism: Walter Eucken, F. A. Hayek and the early history of the Mont Pèlerin Society," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 433-463, December.
    2. Kolev, Stefan & Goldschmidt, Nils & Hesse, Jan-Otmar, 2014. "Walter Eucken's role in the early history of the Mont Pèlerin Society," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 14/02, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    3. Andrew Farrant, 2019. "What Should (Knightian) Economists Do? James M. Buchanan's 1980 Visit to Chile," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(3), pages 691-714, January.
    4. Stefan Kolev, 2022. "Anti-democratic revolutionaries or democratic reformers? A review essay of Janek Wasserman’s The Marginal Revolutionaries: How Austrian Economists Fought the War of Ideas," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 531-546, December.
    5. Kai A. Konrad, 2024. "The political economy of paternalism," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(1), pages 61-81, October.
    6. Stephan Schulmeister, 2018. "From Prosperity into the Crisis and Back. On the Role of Economic Theories in the Long Cycle," WIFO Working Papers 571, WIFO.
    7. David Mitch, 2016. "A Year of Transition: Faculty Recruiting at Chicago in 1946," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(6), pages 1714-1734.
    8. Andrew Farrant & Vlad Tarko, 2019. "James M. Buchanan’s 1981 visit to Chile: Knightian democrat or defender of the ‘Devil’s fix’?," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Leonidas Montes & Bruce Caldwell, 2014. "Friedrich Hayek and his Visitis to Chile," Working Papers wp_036, Adolfo Ibáñez University, School of Government.
    10. Bruce Caldwell & Leonidas Montes, 2015. "Friedrich Hayek and his visits to Chile," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 261-309, September.
    11. Peter J. Boettke & Daniel J. Smith, 2016. "Evolving views on monetary policy in the thought of Hayek, Friedman, and Buchanan," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 351-370, December.
    12. Feld, Lars P. & Nientiedt, Daniel, 2023. "Examining the ordoliberal tradition in classical liberal thought," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 23/5, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    13. Viktor J. Vanberg, 2023. "Liberalism and democracy: legitimacy and institutional expediency," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 195(3), pages 251-268, June.
    14. Innset, Ola, 2023. "Dual Argument, Double Truth: On the continued importance of the state in neoliberal thought," SocArXiv kyvdm, Center for Open Science.
    15. Nicolas Brisset & Raphaël Fèvre, 2019. "Peregrinations of an Economist: Perroux's Grand Tour of Fascist Europe," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-11, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    16. Niclas Berggren & Christian Bjørnskov, 2023. "Does legal freedom satisfy?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 1-28, February.
    17. Thomas I. Palley, 2018. "Re-theorizing the welfare state and the political economy of neoliberalism's war against it," FMM Working Paper 16-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    18. Jason Oakes, 2016. "Rent-seeking and the tragedy of the commons: two approaches to problems of collective action in biology and economics," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 137-151, July.
    19. Troels Krarup, 2019. "‘Ordo’ versus ‘Ordnung’: Catholic or Lutheran roots of German ordoliberal economic theory?," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 66(3), pages 305-323, September.
    20. Makovi, Michael, 2016. "New Wine in Old Flasks: the Just Price and Price-Controls in Jewish Law," MPRA Paper 69119, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Liberalism; Democracy; Ordoliberalism; Social market economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B20 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - General
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:195:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11127-021-00876-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.