Auf Wiedersehen, Rhineland Model: Embedding Neoliberalism in Germany

Abstract

A Thatcherite revolution never occurred in Germany. Indeed, notwithstanding considerable pressures toward convergence on the liberal Anglo-American model (Harding and Patterson 2000), emanating from economic liberalization induced by the European Union (EU) and the global dissemination of neoliberal ideology and policies, the relative institutional stability of Rhineland capitalism has been interpreted as evidence of its continuing resilience. The highly organized neocorporatist Rhineland political economy of Germany has commonly been considered a distinct coordinated or ‘nonliberal’ variety of capitalism (Albert, 1991; Streeck, 1996; Coates, 2000; Schmidt, 2002; Streeck and Yamamura 2002).

You see, we have taken the slogan pom the 1980s — we only borrowed this planet from our children — and brought it up to date. Being responsible for the future of our children today means not racking up unsustainable public debt and thus implies budget austerity.

German Green Party MP (Author’s interview, Berlin 2001)