New Spiegel interview: Markus Scholz on companies, democracy and populism

"Companies should work to protect liberal democracy and the social market economy."

In a new interview with Der Spiegel, Prof. Dr. Markus Scholz calls on companies to take an active role in protecting liberal democracy and the social market economy. The interview, conducted by Tim Bartz and Kathrin Werner, impressively highlights the dangers that populism and right-wing extremism pose for the economy and society.

Our liberal-democratic values and institutions are at risk - but without them, according to Markus Scholz, it is impossible to do business successfully:

"(Business leaders) must understand what a privilege liberal democracy is in conjunction with the social market economy. The political and economic spheres are interdependent. Entrepreneurs and managers are part of civil society and are obliged to defend both - and thus ultimately the freedom of each individual. This also results from the fact that, unlike in an autocracy, a peaceful change of political power is possible in a liberal democracy. That is its killer feature!"

From a business perspective, Prof. Scholz makes it clear that populism is not only a political risk, but also an economic one:

"Populists have a friend-or-foe world view, curtail the rule of law or abolish it altogether, engage in clientelism and nepotism, restrict media freedom, suppress civil society, discredit the opposition. It is not possible to do business well under such conditions."

One of the key quotes from the interview sums up Markus Scholz's position succinctly. He pleads for the protection of our civil liberties and the preservation of the social foundations on which sustainable economic activity is possible in the first place:

"It is true that we are in the midst of the two biggest crises of modern times. The ecological crisis, which will kill us in the long term (if we don't act decisively), and the crisis of liberal democracy, which is just as important. We are living in a time of transition. But I cannot imagine a new world without freedom rights for the individual, which are guaranteed by liberal democracy and the social market economy."

The full interview has been published by Der Spiegel and can be read here:

Link to the article