Principles and Economic Style Moulded Into Sustainability and Foreign Policy Interests
“The concept of the Social Market Economy links the principle of freedom on the market and the instrument of competitive economics with the principle of solidarity and with mechanisms of social compensation. This link is not a mere smart decision of a purely institutional wisdom, but it lays on a decision on values which is borne by the moral foundations of our European culture”. This is the statement of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community. Most politicians and even academics who see themselves as Catholics normally take seriously most doctrinal declarations of this church’s leadership. Thus, it is expected that such declarations are to be found to a larger or smaller extent in drafted legislation and in created institutions. From such statements, the Social Market Economy develops advantages and shortcomings. Its advantages are related to its purpose of organising economic and social life at a national level in such a way that a competitive and creative balance of power between the economic agents, government and individuals as actors is achieved. Another advantage is its attempt at inclusiveness which is done via the corporatist approach in social and professional relations. Convincing individuals to join professional groups and defend their common interest is an inclusive and integrative approach. Nevertheless, corporatism can also be a shortcoming of the Social Market Economy because it induces a danger. If professional groups defend their interests in common, they have quite a big chance to dominate not only some of the members of parliament via their professional affiliation but even minister and thus parts of government. Particular interests are served here, even though they are not individual interests but small group interests. This happens at the expense of the general interest when such corporatist groups from within the Social Market Economy delay and sometimes block necessary economic reforms. Following the economic and financial crisis in 2007–2009, the national economic and social system in place in Germany and Austria had become known enough in order for the term “social market economy” to be adopted in art. 3 (3) of the EU Treaty of Lisbon. Thus, this system managed to pass from a national terminology in economic policy, which at times was even taken for a mere political label given in Germany, to a legally consecrated term enshrined in the EU Treaty texts.
The social market economy : theory and ethics of the economic order
Preface PETER KOSLOWSKI, Introduction: The Social Market Economy and the Varieties of Capitalism PART A: SOCIAL MARKET ECONOMY. CONTEMPORARY ANALYSIS AND THEORY. SECTION I: THE THEORY OF THE ECONOMIC ORDER CHRISTIAN WATRIN, The Social Market Economy: The Main Ideas and Their Influence on Economic Policy - KONSTANTIN S. PIGROV, The Idea of Economic Order in Contemporary Russia - MANFRED E. STREIT, Has the Market Economy Still a Chance? On the Lack of a Disciplining Challenge - SERGEY A. NIKOLSKY, The Chances for Economic Order in Post-Soviet Russia - PETER KOSLOWSKI, The Social Market Economy: Social Equilibration of Capitalism and Consideration of the Totality of the Economic Order. Notes on Alfred Muller-Armack SECTION II: THE ETHICS OF THE ECONOMIC ORDER SVETLANA V. SIMONOVA, The Ethics of Business in Russia - VLADIMIR V. BIBIKHIN, One's Own Proper. What is Property in its Essence? SECTION III: THE REPERSONALISATION OF SOCIALIZED PROPERTY WOLF-DIETER PLESSING, Privatisation in the New Lands of the Former German Democratic Republic - ALEXANDER I. LIAKIN, Reprivatisation and Economic Transformation in the Countries of the Former Soviet Union SECTION IV: THE PRIVATISATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR SILKE STAHL, Independent Family Farms Versus Hierarchical Forms of Organisation. Spontaneous Emergence of Property Rights Structures in Russian Agriculture - EVGENI F. SHEPELEV, Russian Law and Land Privatisation SECTION V: THE ECONOMIC ORDER IN PRIVATE AND IN PUBLIC LAW BORIS V. MARKOV, Law and Economic Order in the Structures of Russian Everyday Life - KNUT WOLFGANG NORR, A Symbiosis with Reserve: Social Market Economy and Legal Order in Germany PART B: SOCIAL MARKET ECONOMY. FOUR BASIC TEXTS SECTION I: THE THEORY OF ECONOMIC ORDER ALFRED MuLLER-ARMACK, The Principles of the Social Market Economy (1965) SECTION II: THE ETHICS OF THE ECONOMIC ORDER OTTO SCHLECHT, The Ethical Content of the Social MarketEconomy (1988) SECTION III: ATTEMPTS TO FORM A BROADER BASIS FOR THE OWNERSHIP OF THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION IN THE SOCIAL MARKET ECONOMY OSWALD VON NELL-BREUNING S.J., The Formation of Private Property in the Hands of Workers (1956) SECTION IV: THE THEORY OF COMPETITION ERNST JOACHIM MESTMACKER, The Role of Competition in a Liberal Society (1979) ANATOLY A. SOBCHAK, A Message of Greeting List of Authors and Discussants Index of Names
Political Developments: Some Conclusions and an Interpretation
When the political decisions and achievements of the post-Khrushchev Soviet leadership are considered as a whole, it is not immediately obvious that there is any pattern to them. It may, nevertheless, be useful to begin by devoting attention to some of the major policy tendencies and outcomes of the past decade, most of which have already been considered in greater detail by other contributors, before going on to enquire if any broad strategy underlying them may be discerned and to attempt to place the various changes in a broader political context.