Crosscurrents (Vol. 2 No. 4)

Austrian Textbook

The basic principles of Austrian economics are carefully explained in a new textbook for undergraduates by Alexander H. Shand, The Capitalist Alternative: An Introduction to Neo-Austrian Economics (New York University Press, 1984).

Constant

Benjamin Constant had a profound influence on the development of European liberalism. His contribution is assessed by Stephen Holmes, Benjamin Constant and the Making of Modern Liberalism (Yale University Press, 1984). Holme’s major weakness is that he generally ignores Constant’s contribution to economic liberalism by concentrating excessively on the political aspects of Constant’s thought.

“Modern society is exposed to two diametrically opposed dangers: overpoliticization and overprivatization. Too much and too little civic spirit are equally destructive of both freedom and social order. The power of Constant’s analysis of the revolutionary age derives largely from his capacity to combine these two antithetical ideas, ideas that are usually viewed as hostile alternatives.”

Stephen Holmes

“The liberty of ancient times was whatever assured citizens the largest share in exercising social power. The liberty of modern times is whatever guarantees the independence of citizens from the government.”

Benjamin Constant

Dissecting the Establishment

Frederic Cople Jaher, The Urban Establishment: Upper Strata in Boston, New York, Charleston, Chicago, and Los Angeles, (Urbana: University of Illinois, Press, 1982) has collected an enormous amount of information about the economic and social élites of five urban centers. Unfortunately Jaher does not distinguish clearly between those of the élite who have amassed wealth and prestige by purely market activities and those who have restored to the power of the state. It is left to the reader to do this.

Cooperation

The series of articles on the “Basic Tenets of Real Liberalism” has attempted to demonstrate the economic reasons why individuals cooperate by voluntarily forming economic associations and social groups. Support for the naturalness of cooperation as opposed to the inevitability of conflict (as Marxists and others accuse the free market of creating) comes from another quarter—game theory. The political and economic consequences of Robert Axelrod’s The Evolution of Cooperation (New York: Basic Books, 1984) may be profound.

Property Theories

The nature of property and the justice of various claims to it by individuals is and has been the source of considerable debate among political philosophers. The British philosopher Alan Ryan takes the theme of property and shows what thinkers as diverse as Rousseau, Hegel, Mill, and Marx have meant by it. Alan Ryan, Property and Political Theory (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984).

Jefferson and the New American State

Following the ratification of the new American Constitution was a struggle over the role of the American state. Traditionally the struggle has been seen as being between agrarian-free market Jeffersonian Democrats and industrial neo-mercantilist Federalists. Joyce Appleby, Capitalism and a New Social Order: The Republican Vision of the 1790s (New York University Press, 1984) discusses the recent literature and concludes that Jefferson was less hostile to industrial development than many have thought and that his victory over the neo-mercantilist Federalists was a major (libertarian) turning point in American history.

Human Rights

The debate amongst utilitarians and natural rights’ philosophers continues to produce stimulating material. The latest contribution is a collection edited by Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr., and Jeffrey Paul called Human Rights (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984).

Discussing Revolution

The French Revolution provoked enormous controversy among contemporaries. Support for or against tended to split along party lines. Conservatives were horrified at any challenge to the status quo, radicals were pleased to see the corrupt Old Order go under, and liberals supported the end of feudal restrictions on economic activity but opposed the erection of a new powerful state under the Jacobins. A good selection of extracts from the main British participants can be found in Burke, Paine, and the Revolution Controversy, ed. Marilyn Butler (Cambridge University Press, 1984.)