The Making and Unmaking of Ordoliberal Language

Anselm Küsters

doi:10.5771/9783465146018

Summary

The ordoliberal school of competition thought is a distinct linguistic community whose conceptual and semantic influence extended far beyond Germany and eventually shaped the European legal order. Linguistic misunderstandings still impacted the negotiations of the founding European Treaties, but in the subsequent application of the new rules, the Freiburg School’s ordoliberal ideas gained in popularity. In the early 2000s, this ordoliberal language was replaced by neoliberal concepts borrowed from the Chicago School. The study combines archival materials, oral history interviews, case law and Text Mining methods. In doing so, it contributes to the historiography of EU competition law, the post-war history of ordoliberalism, and methodological debates about Digital Humanities.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2023
ISBN-Print: 978-3-465-04614-4
ISBN-Online: 978-3-465-14601-8
Publisher: Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main
Series: Studien zur europäischen Rechtsgeschichte
Volume: 340
Language: English
Pages: 796
Product type: Book Titles

Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis No access Pages I - XVI
Introduction: Popularising ordoliberal concepts in Brussels No access Pages 1 - 28
1. 1. 1. 1. Economic power and laissez-faire liberalism No access
    2. 2. The economic discourse, the Historical School, and views of competition No access
    3. 3. The legal treatment of competition and the interdependence of law and economics No access
    4. 4. The political discourse, vested interests, and the ‘strong state’ No access
  2. 1. 1. Ordoliberal competition policy No access
    2. 2. Market structure as ‘complete competition’ No access
    3. 3. Market behaviour as ‘performance-based competition’ No access
    4. 4. Socio-cultural effects of competition No access
    5. 5. Ordoliberal language No access
    6. Conclusion No access
2. 1. A. Context of the debate No access
  2. B. Early ordoliberal attempts: the drafts of Miksch, Eucken, and Josten No access
  3. C. The early draft of Böhm No access
  4. 1. 1. The path to the GWB No access
    2. 2. The explanatory memorandum No access
    3. 3. The Bundestag Committee report No access
    4. 4. Legal structure and content of the final GWB No access
  5. E. Competition ‘light:’ the ‘social market economy’ narrative goes viral No access
  6. Conclusion: ‘It will be said later that these were our ideas’ No access
3. 1. 1. 1. Distant reading: estimating a Structural Topic Model No access
    2. 2. Close reading: analysing ordoliberal competition topics over time No access
    3. 3. Reflections on content, vocabulary, and methodology No access
  2. 1. 1. Hayek’s conceptual and semantic legacy No access
    2. 2. ORDO’s public choice revolution No access
    3. 3. Resisting the trend of mathematisation No access
    4. Conclusion: change and continuities No access
4. 1. A. Old Chicago School (1920s–1940s) No access
  2. 1. 1. Starting the ‘fire of truth:’ institutional changes No access
    2. 2. The early JLE articles: McGee, Coase, Tesler No access
    3. 3. The new perspective on competition: differences to ordoliberalism No access
  3. 1. 1. The Posner and Bork treatises: competition as maximisation of economic welfare No access
    2. 2. Comparison with ordoliberal thought No access
    3. 3. Academic and legal success No access
  4. 1. 1. Post-Chicago criticism: industrial organisation economics and game theory No access
    2. 2. Theoretical developments: RRC and unilateral effects No access
    3. 3. Neo-Chicago: error-costs and defence of efficiency No access
    4. Conclusion: diverging paths No access
1. 1. A. Schuman declaration No access
  2. B. ECSC Treaty No access
  3. 1. 1. Early preparations No access
    2. 2. The influence of the German Scientific Advisory Board No access
    3. 3. Reconstructing the negotiations of the Treaty of Rome No access
    4. 4. Assessing the economic-theoretical background of the ‘rules of competition’ No access
  4. D. Regulation 17/62 No access
  5. Conclusion: the ‘Strasbourg duel’ No access
2. 1. 1. 1. The conception of ‘competition’ No access
    2. 2. The Geitling case No access
  2. 1. 1. The conception of ‘competition’ No access
    2. 2. Anti-competitive agreements through the lens of ‘complete competition’ No access
    3. 3. Abuse of dominant position through the lens of Leistungswettbewerb No access
    4. 4. The ordoliberal competition game in the Commission’s decisions No access
    5. Conclusion: semantic and conceptual synthesis? No access
3. 1. 1. 1. (Vertical and horizontal) agreements No access
    2. 2. Merger control No access
    3. 3. Unilateral conduct No access
  2. 1. 1. Form-based rules vs effects-based discretion No access
    2. 2. Econometric expertise vs democratic decision-making No access
    3. 3. Type I vs type II errors No access
    4. 4. Consumer welfare vs consumer choice No access
    5. 5. Competitive vs economic efficiency No access
  3. 1. 1. Counting No access
    2. 2. Topics No access
    3. 3. Sentiments No access
    4. 4. Qualitative analysis: Monti and his neoliberal economists No access
    5. Conclusion: a change in the competition language game No access
4. 1. A. Background: European competition law as a marketplace of ideas No access
  2. B. Data: constructing a corpus of EU competition law No access
  3. 1. 1. Competition goals No access
    2. 2. Competition collocates No access
    3. 3. Competition language No access
    4. 4. Competition sentiment No access
    5. 5. Competition topics No access
    6. Conclusion: first ordoliberalisation, then neoliberalisation No access
5. 1. A. Conceptual origins in the Freiburg School: competition as a constitutional decision No access
  2. B. Economic constitution and Germany’s Basic Law: debates and adaptations No access
  3. C. Ordoliberalism scaled up: Mestmäcker and the EEC economic constitution No access
  4. D. Diffusion phase: tracing the concept in the Court’s case law and the Commission’s papers No access
  5. E. In search of a global economic constitution: exporting Ordnungspolitik? No access
  6. F. The economic constitution in a period of crises: from Eurozone crisis to pandemic No access
  7. Conclusion: conceptual overreach? From the Prussian Gewerbeordnung to global reach No access
6. Conclusion: A ‘re-ordoliberalisation’ of European competition law?‘ No access
German language summary No access Pages 655 - 666
Appendix No access Pages 667 - 716
1. I. Primary sources No access
2. II. Cases No access
3. III. Computational packages (selection) No access
4. IV. Literature No access