ARTICLES 

In the practice of Germany’s social market economy, the role of state intervention has undergone twists and turns. In response to the 2008-2009 financial crisis, a “return of the state” has been demonstrated by the German government’s adoption of a series of measures such as nationalization and financial market regulation. The national industrial strategy paper presented by German Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier at the beginning of 2019 triggered a new round of discussions on the role of the state. Started with the five kinds of state interventionist policy instruments, this article analyses the performances illustrating the maintenance and enhancement of the policy instruments of state intervention in the context of three cases, namely, the adjustment of industrial policy, the revision of foreign economic regulations and the response to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. This article then discusses the possible implications of such a trend for Germany, the EU and the international community. This article argues that these three cases show that Germany has further strengthened the use of state interventionist policy instruments in recent years, but the “return to the state” within the German social market economy system will remain limited due to the skepticism about the use of state interventionist measures by mainstream German society. If such measures could achieve some success in the future, they will undoubtedly  bring new momentum for and further recognition of the policy instruments with the character of  a “interventionist state”.