Authoritarian liberalism, ordoliberalism, and the contradictions of European political development

Popov, Maxim (2025) Authoritarian liberalism, ordoliberalism, and the contradictions of European political development. INTERSECTIONS: EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIETY AND POLITICS, 11 (3). pp. 1-19. ISSN 2416-089X

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Abstract

The term ‘authoritarian liberalism’ covers two crisis-related symptoms of the constitutional and political development of Europe. In the EU and especially in the Eurozone, there is an authoritarian aspect of governance, represented by the binary process of de-democratization and de-legalization, which is related to ignoring parliamentary powers and parliamentary debates, as well as violating the guarantees of the rule of law and protection of social rights. Authoritarian liberalism strives for the rational management of free markets. Institutionally, this is manifested in the constitutional consolidation of economic freedoms and the transfer of control over economic activities to expert bodies and the executive branch of the EU. If authoritarian liberalism focuses on market rationality and economic liberalism, then authoritarian ways of implementing policies are subordinated to the interests of private property, thereby contributing to the further “authoritarian transformation” of the European Union. Thus, the eurocrisis is being transformed into a legitimation crisis and a clash of main political goals: ordoliberalism, market capitalism, European integration, and democratic self-government.

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