Page 135 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

PART II

POLITICS AND PUBLIC OPINION

Vox populi, vox Dei.
1
(Hesiod, 700 B.C.)

Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei,
quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit. 2
(Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus, 798)

While the previous chapters focused on the academic and bipartisan
economic and socio-political concepts and their communication to the
public, the following section analyses the sentiment among the populace
and the nature of public involvement in the political process.
Following the totalitarianism and despotism of National Socialism both
the Allies and the German post-war parties aimed to design and establish a
democratic economic and socio-political order derived from the people
and consistent with the preferences of the populace. The perpetuation of
3
this regained democracy, in turn, ultimately required the active
participation of the people as the actual sovereign. Similarly, public
4
acceptance and civic engagement were equally considered prerequisites for
the success of the Social Market Economy. Indeed, both government by
5
the people and government for the people, that is government in
accordance with the people’s preferences, ultimately constitute democracy
and thus any democratic economic model.
6
Although it is principally a democratic concept, the tradition of the
governors being ultimately constrained by the will of the governed is older
than liberal ideology. Its roots lie deep in the past, even though there was
no explicit articulation of the idea much before the eighteenth century and
no systematic treatment of it until the nineteenth. The concept of popular
sovereignty, as the ultimate legitimising authority, can be traced back to
Aristotle who remarked ‘He who loses the support of the people is a king