Governing dynamics and superfragility : liberal political economists as order guardians

This article pursues two goals. First, to reflect on how <italic>historical Ordnungsökonomik</italic> (Economics of Order) illuminates the politico-economic crises in today's Western democracies via the increasing parallels to the fragilities and fractures of the 1930s. Second, based on these historical inspirations, to come closer to a <italic>modern Ordnungsökonomik</italic> targeted specifically at today's crises. The three-step approach consists of an anamnesis ("crisis burger"), a diagnosis ("anxiety from over-dynamics"), and a therapy ("fixed points towards order security"). Thus the article revisits the role of liberal political economists as order guardians amid what I call superfragility, a context in which citizens radically lose trust and unsubscribe from the order, making the trust-enhancing role of liberal political economists existential for the order's future.