Third Way in Germany
Centrist political movement

Third Way (German: Dritter Weg) have been influence on german politics mostly during Gerhard Schröder, while the most of modern German history is influenced by centre-left and centre-right ideologies and politicians, there were times in that third way politics influenced the country outside of Schröder.

Background

During World War II economists tried to find a third way between capitalism and socialism, the results were social market economy and ordoliberalism.

Social market economy

Alfred Müller-Armack who coinded the term of the social market economy did used the term "Third Way" to describe the social market economy.[1][2] Not like Ludwig Erhard, he promoted social liberalism,[3] Erhard rejected the term of "Third Way".[4][5] Also Alfred Schüller rejected the term "Third Way".[6] The friend of Erhard, Franz Oppenheimer described the social market economy as liberal and socialist,[7] later Oppenheimer published his work with the name "Weder so – noch so. Der dritte Weg" where he described the social market economy as a third way.[8]

Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung on the social market economy

The Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung described the social market economy as a third way.[9]

Ordoliberalism

The Freiburg school who embraced the social market economy developed there own variant of liberal economic thought which got called "Ordoliberalism" by Hero Moeller [de] in 1950.[10] Ordoliberal Wilhelm Röpke saw ordoliberalism as liberal conservatism which is against capitalism as he wrote in his work Civitas Humana. While not part of the Freiburg School, Alexander Rüstow who influenced ordoliberalism wrote in his work "Das Versagen des Wirtschaftsliberalismus" that economic liberalism failed. Ordoliberalism supports configuration of vital resources and progressive taxation.[11] The ordoliberal emphasis on the privatization of public services and other public firms such as telecommunication services;[12] wealth redistribution and minimum wage laws as regulative principles makes clear the links between this economic model and the social market economy.[13][14]

Ordoliberalism get's compared to Third Way social democracy there are still differences Whilst they both adhere to the idea of providing a moderate stance between socialism and capitalism, the ordoliberal social market model often combines private enterprise with government regulation to establish fair competition (although German network industries are known to have been deregulated),[12] whereas advocates of the third-way social democracy model have been known to oversee multiple economic deregulations. The third way social democracy model has also foreseen a clash of ideas regarding the establishment of the welfare state, in comparison to the ordoliberal's idea of a social market model being open to the benefits of social welfare.[15] However it's still often seen as a third way between collectivism and laissez-faire liberalism.[16] Ordoliberalism get's seen as the german form of social liberalism.[17] Ordoliberal Wilhelm Röpke later described ordoliberalism to be the "First Way".[18] Other ordoliberals saw ordoliberalism as a "third way",[19][20][21][22][23] [24][25][26] like Alexander Rüstow.[27] The non third way Ludwig Erhard is by some also considered as ordoliberal.[28]

German and American think tanks on ordoliberalism

The Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung and the Friedrich Naumann-Stifung both see ordoliberalism as third way.[29][30] The KSA also criticized South Korean Ex-President Kim Young-sam for embracing neoliberalism rather than ordoliberalism.[31]

The Right-libertarian Foundation for Economic Education links ordoliberalism to Bill Clintons Third Way.[32]

History

1949–1963

In the beginning of the Federal Republic of Germany the term wasn't really used however, Konrad Adenauer the first Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany saw himself as a third wayist, he rejected western liberalism and soviet communism. Franz Josef Strauss the Minister-President of Bavaria from 1978 until 1988, also embraced the third way.[33]

1969–1974

The first SPD chancellor of Germany Willy Brandt is considered to be a third wayist by Konrad Sziedat’s, who argues that like Schröder and Blair he was for a "third way" between capitalism and socialism.[34] Willy Brandt saw himself as a democratic socialist.[35][36]

1982–1983

During his first cabinet, Helmut Kohl advocated for ordoliberal economic policies and reforms, however later he supported keynesian economic policies.[37][38][39] Otto Graf Lambsdorff Federal Economic Minister at that time was a ordoliberal.[40]

1998–2005

Gerhard Schröder is the most known german that embraced the Third Way.[41] He called his variant "Neue Mitte" and later wrote together with Tony Blair a paper about the Third Way, which has three different names (Schröder-Blair-Papier, Der Weg nach vorne für Europas Sozialdemokraten and Europe: The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte), in the "Die Neue Mitte", it called on Europe's centre-left governments to cut taxes, pursue labour and welfare reforms and encourage entrepreneurship. The joint paper said European governments needed to adopt a "supply-side agenda" to respond to globalisation, the demands of capital markets and technological change.[42][43][44] Gerhard Schröder protrayed himself as pragmatic new social democrat.[45]

Domestic policies

His Agenda 2010 reform program, included cuts in the social welfare system (national health insurance, unemployment payments, pensions), lower taxes, and reformed regulations on employment and payment. He also eliminated capital gains tax on the sale of corporate stocks and thereby made the country more attractive to foreign investors.[46]

Currently

Sahra Wagenknecht sees ordoliberalism as an alternative to neoliberalism.[47][48] Some AfD members like Dimitrios Kisoudis and Jurij.C. Kofner are embracing ordoliberalism.

Persons

See also

References

  1. ^ Alfred Müller-Armack: Stil und Ordnung der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft (1952). In: Alfred Müller-Armack: Wirtschaftsordnung und Wirtschaftspolitik. Studien und Konzepte zur Sozialen Marktwirtschaft und zur Europäischen Integration. Rombach. Freiburg i. B. 1966, S. 242.
  2. ^ Alfred Müller-Armack: Stil und Ordnung der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft (1952). In: Alfred Müller-Armack: Wirtschaftsordnung und Wirtschaftspolitik. Studien und Konzepte zur Sozialen Marktwirtschaft und zur Europäischen Integration. Rombach, Freiburg i. B. 1966, S. 236.
  3. ^ Erhard, L., Franz Oppenheimer, dem Lehrer und Freund (1964), in: Hohmann, K. (ed.), Ludwig Erhard. Gedanken aus fünf Jahrzehnten, Reden und Schriften, Düsseldorf/ Vienna/ New York, 1988b, p. 861.
  4. ^ Regarding the influence of Oppenheimer on Erhard, see Wünsche, H. F., Der Einfluss Oppenheimers auf Erhard und dessen Konzeption von der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft, in: Caspari, V.; Schefold, B. (eds.), Franz Oppenheimer und Adolph Lowe, Zwei Wirtschaftswissenschaftler der Frankfurter Universität, Marburg, 1996, pp. 141-161; Haselbach, D., Franz Oppenheimer's Theory of Capitalism and of a Third Path, in: Koslowski, P. (ed.), The Theory of Capitalism in the German Economic Tradition. Historism, Ordo-Liberalism, Critical Theory, Solidarism, Berlin et al., 2000, pp. 54-86.
  5. ^ https://shs.cairn.info/journal-l-economie-politique-2013-4-page-48?lang=en
  6. ^ Alfred Schüller stellt Freie Marktwirtschaft und Soziale Marktwirtschaft als Formen des Ersten Weges der zentral geplanten Sozialverwaltungswirtschaft als Zweitem Weg und dem Marktsozialismus (wozu Schüller auch den Wohlfahrtsstaat zählt) schließlich als Dritten Weg gegenüber. Schüller verweist dabei auf Wilhelm Röpke, der zeitweilig zwar von einem Dritten Weg sprach, sich später jedoch von dieser Bezeichnung nachdrücklich distanzierte. Alfred Schüller: Soziale Marktwirtschaft und Dritte Wege. In: ORDO – Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Band 51. Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart 2000, S. 169–202.
  7. ^ Oppenheimer, F., System der Soziologie (III/1). Band 3: Theorie der reinen und politischen Ökonomie, Teil 1: Grundlagen, Jena, 1910, p. 9. The economist Franz Oppenheimer (1864–1943) also published his economic conception in Sprung über ein Jahrhundert, Bern/ Leipzig, 1935 under the pseudonym F. D. Pelton.
  8. ^ Oppenheimer, F., Weder so – noch so. Der dritte Weg, Potsdam, 1933.
  9. ^ https://www.kas.de/documents/252038/253252/7_dokument_dok_pdf_20040_2.pdf/c0893063-8913-1bd6-5724-52ef68ee7abc
  10. ^ Ptak, Ralf (2004). Vom Ordoliberalismus zur Sozialen Marktwirtschaft: Stationen des Neoliberalismus in Deutschland (in German). VS Verlag. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-8100-4111-1.
  11. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2012-11-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ a b Siebert, Horst (28 May 2003), "Germany's Social Market Economy: How Sustainable is the Welfare State?" (PDF), Paper presented at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Johns Hopkins University, archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2013, retrieved 9 November 2012
  13. ^ Kingston, Suzanne (2011). Greening EU Competition Law and Policy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139502788. Retrieved 1 August 2013 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ "The 'third way' between state intervention and the free market - Taipei Times". 3 March 2015.
  15. ^ "Soziale Marktwirtschaft" [Social market economy]. Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon (in German). Archived from the original on 2018-03-16. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  16. ^ Bonefeld, Werner (2012). "Freedom and the Strong State: On German Ordoliberalism". New Political Economy. 17 (5): 633–656. doi:10.1080/13563467.2012.656082. ISSN 1469-9923. S2CID 154374055. Archived from the original on 2022-12-15. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  17. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327532854_THE_INFLUENCE_OF_ORDOLIBERALISM_IN_EUROPE
  18. ^ Röpke, Wilhelm (1951). Die Lehre von der Wirtschaft, Erlenbach-Zürich [The teaching of the economy, Erlenbach-Zürich] (in German). pp. 56–59.
  19. ^ Dale, Gareth (2019). "Justificatory Fables of Ordoliberalism: Laissez-faire and the "Third Way"". Critical Sociology. 45 (7–8): 1047–1060. doi:10.1177/0896920519832638.
  20. ^ "Thomas F. Remington: The Ordoliberalism Debate".
  21. ^ https://www.thttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2024.2317108andfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2024.2317108
  22. ^ https://thomasremington.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/ordoliberalism-revisited-1.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  23. ^ Anchustegui, Ignacio Herrera (2015). "Competition Law through an Ordoliberal Lens". Oslo Law Review. 2 (2): 139–174. doi:10.5617/oslaw2568.
  24. ^ https://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Ahnert-Clara.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  25. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330887346_Ordoliberalism_the_social-market_economy_and_keynesianism_in_Germany_1945-_1974
  26. ^ https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/rupcic_vjenceslav.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  27. ^ https://www.eucken.de/app/uploads/Discussionpaper_2105.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  28. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283595131_The_ordoliberalism_that_never_was
  29. ^ https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=1edaf68e-7fd8-fd44-2ea0-0a6946b3ce48&groupId=252038
  30. ^ "Third Way? Social Market Economy: Between Laissez-Faire and Interventionism". 24 September 2021.
  31. ^ https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=ef2fc7df-c3ca-f461-9803-9e3ddfee64aa&groupId=252038
  32. ^ "Germany and the Third Way".
  33. ^ DLF-Sendung Essay und Diskurs vom 12. Februar 2012, Der andere Westen (http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/essayunddiskurs/1674019)
  34. ^ "Event – GHI Washington".
  35. ^ "Willy Brandt 1913 - 1992 - Socialist International".
  36. ^ "Democratic Socialism - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung".
  37. ^ Vjenceslav Rupčić (2016). "Historic origins of austerity and the ordoliberal school of thought" (PDF).
  38. ^ Bruno, Federico (2023). "Ordoliberal ideas on Europe: Two paradigms of European economic integration". History of European Ideas. 49 (4): 737–756. doi:10.1080/01916599.2022.2151494.
  39. ^ ""Kohl war Keynesianist"".
  40. ^ Aurélie Dianara Andry (2022). Social Europe, the Road Not Taken: The Left and European Integration in the Long 1970s. Oxford University Press. p. 223. ISBN 9780192867094.
  41. ^ Edmund L. Andrews (20 October 1998), British-German Agenda Marks Break With Left : Manifesto Maps Out 'Third Way' Archived 5 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine International Herald Tribune.
  42. ^ Rachel Sylvester (29 May 1999), We say Third Way, you say die neue mitte Archived 5 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine The Independent.
  43. ^ Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder, (19 August 1999) Europe: The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte
  44. ^ "New Statesman - the New Statesman Essay - Whatever happened to liberty?". Archived from the original on 6 July 2008.
  45. ^ Edmund L. Andrews (20 October 1998), Choice for Economics Post Spurns Offer by Schroder Archived 5 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times.
  46. ^ Claus Christian Malzahn (14 October 2005), The Modern Chancellor: Taking Stock of Gerhard Schröder Archived 23 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine Spiegel Online.
  47. ^ "Are we all ordoliberals now?".
  48. ^ https://www.ifri.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/t._holzhauser_bundnis_wagenknecht_europawahl_2024_juillet_2024.pdf [bare URL PDF]
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