The ambivalent role of the state in the ordoliberal version of neoliberalism is present in founding thinker Walter Eucken’s definition of the principles of economic policy. The first principle, Eucken argues, is that “the policy of the state should be focused on dissolving power groups or at limiting their functioning.” The second principle dictates that “the politico-economic activity of the state should focus on the regulation of the economy, not on the guidance of the economic process.” Whereas the first principle stresses the need for a strong state for political engineering (Ordnungspolitik), the second (regarding Prozesspolitik) stresses avoiding interventionist policies against the market mechanism. Ordoliberalism advocated influencing the rules of the game, not the process.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 613