ABSTRACT
Ordoliberalism went far beyond the old prewar liberalism, redefining the role of the state, which considerably gained in importance. The dramatic removal of the prewar order after the revolution in November 1918 paved the way for representative democracy in Germany, but also left the future of the economic order uncertain. W. Eucken was concerned that democracy politicizes the economic order to a hitherto unknown extent, which is chief among the reasons why it became so vulnerable and dysfunctional. Eucken’s key concern in the Weimar State was “good governance” to be achieved by restrengthening the liberal prewar order. Economic historians have led a controversy about the impact of compulsory wage setting and, in particular, whether it contributed to economic stagnation in the Weimar State. The interwar economic order was far from achieving such a framework. A return to the economic momentum of the prewar period was, at least in principle, considered possible.
