Ms Isabel Oakes

DPhil Student and Research Assistant: Changing Global Orders

Lincoln College

isabel.oakes@lincoln.ox.ac.uk

I am a DPhil student in the History Faculty looking at the intellectual roots of the ‘eco-social market economy’ in post-war Germany.

I am also a research assistant for the the History Faculty, in association with the Oxford Martin School-funded research programme on Changing Global Orders. I report to the Changing Global Orders Co-Directors, Professor Patricia Clavin and Professor Andrew Thompson and working independently to provide research support and research administration support for the Programme focusing on the History of Food Security and Political Economy.

Supervisors: Ben Jackson Patricia Clavin

Journal Article: Taming Giants: How Ordoliberal Competition Theory Can Address Power in the Digital Age (Journal of Contextual Economics, 2021)

In comparing the historical circumstances in which ordoliberalism emerged with the socio-economic and political trends of today, this study identifies parallels that can provide useful insights into tackling current challenges in the digital age. On this basis, the study explores whether ordoliberal concepts like “complete competition,” “interdependence of orders,” and Vitalpolitik, and the lessons from the past that they incorporate, can help reform European competition law for the digital economy.

Journal Article: Max Weber and Ordoliberalism: How Weber’s Kulturkritik Contributed to the Foundation of Ordoliberal Socio-Economic Thought (Journal of Contextual Economics, 2020)

This study aims to uncover Max Weber as a direct and indirect influence on Alexander Rüstow and Wilhelm Röpke and the emergence of ordoliberal socio-economic thought in the 1930s and 40s. Weber contributed to the German Kulturkritik of the early 20th century that shaped the academic and socio-political climate in which the ordoliberals formed their own ideas. Weber also identified key societal issues to which the ordoliberals found concrete solutions, specifically their “Third Way” between laissez-faire capitalism and central planning as well as Vitalpolitik.