German ordoliberalism originated at the end of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) in a context of hyper-inflation, depression, mass unemployment and social unrest. For ordoliberalism, a free economy is premised on a sound political, legal, social and moral framework to secure its cohesion. The role of the state is to ensure a liberal economic order.

Ordoliberalism is a contested account of post-neoliberal political economy: some argue that it offers a more restrained and socially just market order; others, in complete contrast, that is a form of authoritarian liberalism and that it is the theoretical foundation for the austerity politics that the EU has actively promoted in recent years.

Foucault discusses ordoliberalism at length inThe Birth of Biopolitics, and Bonefelds book provides a thought-provoking companion to those lectures by offering a more comprehensive investigation of the theoretical foundation of ordoliberal thought and its historical and theoretical contexts.

Werner Bonefeld is Professor of Politics at the University of York, UK.

Dedication / Acknowledgments / 1. The Strong State and the Free Economy: German Ordoliberalism, Political Theology and European Democracy / 2. Free Economy as Political Practice. / 3. Democracy and Freedom: On Authoritarian Liberalism / 4. Economic Constitution and Social Order: On the Freedom of Complete Competition / 5. Social Policy: From the Class Society to the Enterprise Society / 6. European and the Idea of Subsidiarity: On the Elements of Ordoliberalism / 7. European Monetary Union: Economic Constitution and Ordnungspolitik / 8. Authoritarian Liberalism and the Euro: On the Political Theology of the Executive State / Bibliography / Index