Introduction

Within the literature on comparative capitalisms, Germany and Sweden are often perceived as paradigmatic cases of ‘coordinated market economies’, in which economic success has rested on non-market forms of organization. At the same time, coordination in the two countries is achieved in different ways through the Bismarkian or Nordic welfare-state traditions and the differential importance of sector versus national-level industrial relations. Likewise, both countries have undergone substantial liberalization in recent decades, reflecting attempts to open markets and transform the role of the state away from intervention and towards a neutral regulator of markets.

Neo-liberal ideas and discourse have had a role in these transformations in both countries despite the fact that both could be considered as least-likely cases for liberalization due to strong non-liberal institutions. In Sweden, neo-liberal ideas have obtained a surprising level of dominance in public debates; similarly, German policy makers have promoted the virtues of more liberal capital markets and emphasis on shareholder value. However, the recent financial crisis could be expected to shatter the relative strength of neo-liberal ideas and discourses, prompting a return to non-liberal forms of economic policy. This chapter argues that such a return to ‘non-liberalism’ has not taken place so far. Rather, neo-liberal ideas and discourse demonstrate a surprising resilience in the face of ‘real-world’ problems that could be understood to seriously challenge neo-liberal theories about the role of the state in the economy and the superiority of markets as a social-ordering principle.