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  3. Economics

Ordnungspolitiker

English translation: ordoliberal

17:44 Dec 5, 2007
German to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Economics / Competition theory
German term or phrase: Ordnungspolitiker
In a text on competition theory including quotations from von Hayek:

Der aus Österreich stammende Ordnungspolitiker hat sich zeitlebens für eine freiheitliche Wirtschaftsordnung eingesetzt. Nur der freie Markt, so von Hayek, bildet im Preissystem alle relevanten Informationen ab und führt zu einem optimalen Einsatz von Ressourcen.

I don't think "regulatory politician" works - or does it?
Robin Ward
Germany
Local time: 04:27
English translation:ordoliberal
Explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordoliberalism

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-12-05 19:55:40 GMT)
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supporter of ordoliberal policies
Selected response from:

Jonathan MacKerron
Grading comment
Hard to decide, but I think this just about takes it here. Thanks to all for your suggestions.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3classical liberal
DC Josephs
2 +1ordoliberal
Jonathan MacKerron
3neoliberal
Kieran McCann


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


42 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
classical liberal


Explanation:
Cribbed from Wikipedia:

"Friedrich August von Hayek, CH (May 8, 1899 in Vienna – March 23, 1992 in Freiburg) was an Austrian-British economist and political philosopher known for his defence of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism"

It's getting a little distant from "ordnungspolitiker" but this is how he is generally characterized in English, I believe.


    Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek
DC Josephs
Local time: 04:27
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +1
ordoliberal


Explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordoliberalism

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-12-05 19:55:40 GMT)
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supporter of ordoliberal policies

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 28
Grading comment
Hard to decide, but I think this just about takes it here. Thanks to all for your suggestions.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  AnjaR: why so shy. It's what von Hayek Stiftung and Stiftung Ordnungspolitik call it. I was one of the interpreters at their last award ceremony, so I should know.
16 hrs
  -> thx
neutral  Kieran McCann: according to your link, Hayek is a 'paleoliberal' not an 'ordoliberal'. In any case, both terms are highly specialised and virtually unknown in English in general contexts (I've never heard of either of them before)
17 hrs
  -> one link does not a translation make
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17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
neoliberal


Explanation:
We don't have an exact equivalent in English because we don't identify separately a branch of political economy dealing with the framework in which economic activity takes place which, as I understand it, is what 'Ordnungspolitik' is, and an 'Ordnungspolitiker' is someone who is basically a free marketeer but, unlike classical liberals, also believes that the right regulatory and legal framework is required for the market to work reliably and fairly and that it is the job of politics simply to provide that framework (Ordnung) rather than try to intervene in the workings of the market.

People who believe this are generally known as 'neoliberals' ie liberals with a difference. A (very) brief history of why is given in the link below.

'Doch gibt es überhaupt noch neoliberale oder Ordnungspolitiker innerhalb der Union?'
http://www.prcenter.de/Der-Union-fehlen-die-Ordnungspolitike...



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Note added at 18 hrs (2007-12-06 11:44:56 GMT)
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'Starting from the University of Chicago with the philosopher-economist Friedrich von Hayek and his students such as Milton Friedman, the ideology of neoliberalism was pushed very thoroughly around the world.'
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/FreeTrade/Neolibera...

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Note added at 18 hrs (2007-12-06 11:52:44 GMT)
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Finally, I don't think you can describe Hayek as a 'classical liberal' even if classical liberal theory was his starting point:

'Contributor Robert Skidelsky points out that Hayek was no libertarian—he argued, for example, that the state should provide a social safety net. As contributor Andrew Gamble notes, “The issue he always maintained was not whether planning should be done or not, but whether it should be done centrally or divided among many individuals.” His preference, of course, was for the latter.'
http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2007/05/f_a_hayek_and_the_essenti...

'True, Hayek calls himself a classical liberal. However, take a look at part III of his Constitution of Liberty and Vol. III of his Law, Legislation, and Liberty, and you will come away with an entirely different impression.'
http://www.hanshoppe.com/publications/hoppe_polish-interview...

Kieran McCann
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:27
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 40
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