It has been stated by Foucault (1979), that the development of Ordo-liberalism in
post-war West Germany cannot be separated from the special historical situation.
During the War, Nazi Germany had been one of the most ideologically driven
states in existence (Steinweis, 1993), with its aims of creating a German led ‘new
order’ (Einzig, 1941). This objective was shattered by the Allied victory, leaving
a vacuum of national destruction that would be filled by a new political order,
one that focused solely on economic prosperity. The idea of collective wealth
produced by this new order created a state that was no longer defined in terms of
its ‘historical mission’ but rather was legitimized by economic growth. This
legitimization via economic progress created a state that refused to adopt any
transcendent perspectives, as states traditionally had. The new state conception
guaranteed solely the rules of economic exchange. Even time was now viewed
through economic categories rather than historical ones. For the first time a state
was now being viewed in terms of annual economic growth, rather than historical
progress, this also allowed Germany to annul recent historical events (Gordon,
1991).
