Authoritarian Liberalism in an Age of Crisis: The Contradictions of European Political and Constitutional Development

Abstract

Authoritarian governance in Europe manifests itself in the containment of democracy and the transfer of control over economic activity to expert bodies and the executive power of the European Union. Authoritarian liberalism in the form of European ordoliberalism is oriented towards market fundamentalism in which authoritarian methods of implementing policy are subordinated to the interests of private property. The eurocrisis is a crisis of legitimation and a clash of the political goals of market capitalism and democratic self-government.