Helmut Schmidt, the ‘Renewal’ of European Social Democracy and the Roots of Neoliberal Globalization

The chapter focuses on the approach of the Federal Republic of Germany Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to the international economic crisis of the 1970s. During his years in power (1974-1982), Schmidt took part in the newborn G6 (later G7) ‘club’ which promoted the deregulation of the international economy and more generally the adoption of a ‘neoliberal’ course. The chapter shows how Schmidt had been an active promoter of a more ‘laissez-faire’ oriented approach, which he deemed as a necessary alternative to the no longer productive Keynesian recipes. Besides, Schmidt estimated that only a renewed Transatlantic solidarity under US leadership could stand the challenge brought by the ‘South’ of the world and by its requests of a new and fairer economic order. Thus, moving away from the traditional tenets of social democracy, Schmidt’s approach ended up promoting a new ‘bipartisan consensus’ towards the reborn neoliberal doctrine.