The Historical Significance and Contemporary Relevance of Conservative Liberalism and Ordo-Liberalism: A Hollow Promise?
This chapter attempts to assess the significance of conservative liberalism and Ordo-liberalism in the larger context of liberalism by examining five questions. Why have they been marginalized? How have their ideas fared in Germany, the epicentre of Ordo-liberalism? What is the position of conservative liberalism and Ordo-liberalism in the intellectual history of political economy? What are their prospects in a new transformational crisis of liberalism? Are they likely to prove no more than a ghostly shadow in liberal political economy? Or can they act as a source of liberal rejuvenation? Finally, do conservative liberalism and Ordo-liberalism offer no more than a hollow promise of disciplining capitalism and democracy? Do the gaps in their thinking—their focusing illusion—disable them as a source of intellectual insight and as a relevant influence on debate, institutions, and policies? Or do they contribute to the overall strength and resilience of liberalism by complementing the contributions of social liberalism and laissez-faire liberalism? The chapter examines conservative liberalism and Ordo-liberalism using the insights from the Austrian School, the new Chicago School, and libertarian thought; from Karl Polanyi and Michel Foucault; from critics of authoritarian liberalism and of the long shadow of Carl Schmitt; and from writers on the moral economy, including John Rawls and Amartya Sen. It concludes by offering a balanced assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this liberal tradition and its place in wider liberalism.