Reason, Ideology, and Democracy
Description
Democratic political systems are often thought to be preferable to all others for supporting liberty. Around the world, nations that are more democratic tend to be freer across various aspects of life and human experience. This book undertakes a social scientific analysis of this claim and finds it to be wanting.
The reality of democratic systems does not adhere to popular rhetoric. One of the key reasons for this is that our system is an entangled system, one in which the realm of the political and commercial are so intertwined that they cannot be easily separated. Businessmen have political interests, and politicians have commercial interests. The implication of this entanglement is that alleviating the problems that emerge in democratic systems is not a simple matter of rolling back damaging interventions. Due to the logic of entanglement, returning to a "free market" is not possible in most cases.
The authors pull economics back to its classical roots to analyze the social orders that best allow people to live together. The world is not constantly aiming at placidity, as the prevailing economics of equilibrium would have us think. We live in a world of change and turbulence, so our social science requires a framework that deals with this turbulence robustly. Classical economists beginning with Adam Smith sought to uncover which forms of human association allowed us to live better together. The authors explain Smith's observations, asking the same sorts of questions of readers today. Because the baseline assumption of entanglement does not allow one to divide the world so clearly into two distinct structures, the authors parallel Smith's approach, focusing on forms of association rather than political or commercial structures. Focusing on human association, the authors help readers uncover the manifold structures humans have devised that allow them to tame the turbulence and live lives more harmoniously with others.
Reviews / Votes
"The book is filled with thought-provoking anecdotes and examples, and draws on a wide range of supporting literature. ... the book's foundation of entanglement lies outside mainstream economic and political thought, requiring readers to think differently about economic and political activities. T&W do a good job of illustrating what entanglement means and applying it to analyze public policy. Careful readers will come away with a more nuanced and realistic perception of political economy." (Randall G. Holcombe, The Review of Austrian Economics, April 2, 2025)
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Persons
Meg Patrick Tuszynski is Managing Director of the Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom and Research Assistant Professor in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. Tuszynski has published research in Public Choice, Southern Economic Journal, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy , and American Journal of Entrepreneurship , among others. She has also published popular pieces in outlets including Investor's Business Daily, Washington Examiner, Dallas Morning News , and Daily Caller .
Richard E. Wagner is Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at George Mason University. He has authored more than 25 books and 200 journal articles across a diverse spectrum of subjects in economic theory and political economy. He was the founding co-editor of Constitutional Political Economy from 1989-1997, and he is currently a member of the editorial boards of Constitutional Political Economy, Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, Journal of Infrastructure, Policy, and Development , and Review of Austrian Economics .
Content
Chapter 1: Valuation, Choice, and Human Action: Economic Calculation Reimagined.- Chapter 2: Human association within a theory of social organization.- Chapter 3: Human Differences, Leadership, and the Emergence of Politics.- Chapter 4: System's Theory as an Appropriate Tool for Understanding Human Population Systems.- Chapter 5: The Growth of Government and the Emergence of Social Cancers.- Chapter 6: The Use of Language in Political Economy.- Chapter 7: Forms of turbulence in society: normal and political.- Chapter 8: The legislation-administration nexus in political economy.- Chapter 9: Law, Political Economy, and Contemporary Discourse on Inequality.- Chapter 10: Intelligence and Democratic Action within Society.- Chapter 11: What Should Economists Do?.- Chapter 12: Searching for Liberty in an Ever-Shrinking World.