Tag: Europe

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From Growth to Freedom: Ecological Ordoliberalism and the Renewal of the Social Market Economy

tl;dr: To survive in the twenty-first century, the Social Market Economy must move beyond growth as its organising principle. Its future lies not in abandoning markets, but in reordering them around freedom, social reproduction, and ecological limits.

The Social Market Economy remains one of the few political-economic ideas in Germany and, more broadly, in Europe that still carries real normative weight. It evokes a promise that many other formulas no longer can: economic freedom without social cruelty, markets without social disintegration, prosperity without authoritarianism.… Read more

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Electric Avenue: Systems, Sufficiency, and European Sovereignty

tl;dr:  Europe’s agency hinges on becoming an Electrostate—electrified value chains, robust grids, high domestic electrification. Not more tech, but system design & sufficiency.

What an Electrostate Is

An Electrostate is not simply a country with many wind turbines and solar parks. It is a polity whose power rests on electrified value chains—from critical minerals and battery chemistry to power electronics, grids, software, and open standards—combined with high domestic electrification in mobility, heat, and industry.… Read more

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Notes from AOM 2025

tl;dr: AOM 2025 brought planetary boundaries, postgrowth, and critique closer to the centre — but the structural tensions remain. Hopeful shifts, unfinished conversations.

2025 in Copenhagen marked my first in-person AOM since 2019 in Boston. I had joined the virtual meetings in 2020 and 2021, but skipped 2022 and 2023. Returning felt both familiar and strange — especially since this was the first AOM Annual Meeting ever held outside of North America. With around 13,000 participants, it was also the largest in the Academy’s history.… Read more

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Sustainability, Security, and Strategic Autonomy

tl;dr: Sustainability is vital for Europe’s strategic autonomy, resilience, and geopolitical leadership, addressing climate change as a core security issue.

Climate change is no longer only an environmental issue—it is increasingly recognized as a central factor influencing international security. As global temperatures rise, competition over critical resources such as water, food, and land intensifies, leading to heightened risks of conflict and political instability. Natural disasters, exacerbated by climate change, have triggered mass migrations, creating social tensions that can threaten regional and global stability.… Read more

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Austerity and Degrowth

I have to start with Greece. For many vocal advocates of a more leftwing economic policy, most notably (and notoriously) Paul Krugman), the prolonged debt crisis in the Mediterranean country has its roots in austerity politics imposed by the ‘Troika’ of the ECB, IMF, and the Eurozone Group. Without another haircut, i.e. write-off of Greek debts, and a stimulus program, Greece will not manage to recover. And recovery, of course, means GDP growth. I could argue about the deeper meaning of austerity politics in the case of Greece (or Portugal, or Spain, or Ireland for that matter) – to actually build a coherent fiscal framework for the Eurozone with shared understandings of political economy, something that has not been there in the first place and what is desperately needed in a common currency area.… Read more