A closer look at the history of German neoliberalism helps to clarify the puzzle. Ordoliberalism is substantially less different from other streams of neoliberal thought than many have thought, although the German tradition of a strong state certainly extends throughout the history of German ordoliberalism. But ordoliberalism had more to offer to the international evolution of neoliberalism than mere reiteration of a parochial German understanding of the state.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 499