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This chapter outlines the liberal perspective on
international political economy, linking today's rise of the
liberal view to its historical roots. We trace liberalism
from eighteenth century France, through nineteenth
century England, to today¶s world of the twenty-first
century. Along the way we listen to the words of some of
the most famous political economists, Adam Smith,
David Ricardo, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek,
and Milton Friedman, and to some noteworthy
practitioners of political economy, such as Václav Havel.
This chapter contains an unusual number of direct
quotes from the works of these authors because the
grace and power of their writings are irresistible.
|ont
Liberalism, like many other terms we use in IPE,
suffers from something of a personality disorder.
The same set of letters means different things in
different contexts. In the United States today, for
example, a political "liberal" is generally one who
believes in a strong and active state role in
society, helping the poor and solving social
problems. It is ironic, therefore, that what has
also come to be referred to as economic
liberalism, as we will study it here, means almost
(but not exactly) the opposite of this
|ont
Liberals, in the classical sense used here, fear the heavy
hand of government and seek to liberate the individual
from state oppression. All liberals believe in freedom,
individual rights, and free markets. It is no accident that
liberal and liberty have the same Latin root. In the United
States and other countries such as England and some
European nations, many liberals have much in common
with those people and their political parties that are now
referred to as "conservatives" in the sense that they
focus on individual rights, oppression from the state, and
preserving society¶s traditional values and institutions.
|ont
Liberalism arose and evolved in reaction to important trends and
events in the real world. In plotting liberalism's path from its origins
to the present day, we will necessarily pause to consider the events
that shaped this point of view. A case study of the |orn Laws
illustrates the political economy of liberalism in the context of
nineteenth-century Britain (pg. 44)
b) Public goods suffer from the free rider problem. Since each
individual wants to consume public goods without paying for them,
public goods are inadequately supplied by the market. State action
becomes necessary to assure an adequate supply of public goods.
c) On one hand, this seems to be the Liberal Hour, where the virtues of
liberalism have seemingly overcome all obstacles to become the
conventional wisdom of political economy. The collapse of communism is
held as the triumph of liberalism.
d) On the other hand, markets and democracy are fragile. It is not clear
that it is possible to create and sustain the environment that liberalism
needs to take root and grow. The jury is still out on the triumph of liberalism.