STATE, THE

By Anthony De Jasay

Book Overview

The State is a brilliant analysis of modern political arrangements that views the state as acting in its own interest contrary to the interests of individuals and even of an entire society. As Nobel laureate James Buchanan has observed, Jasay subjects the state to a "solid, foundational analysis, grounded in an understanding of economic theory, informed by political philosophy and a deep sense of history." The results include a "devastating critique of the absurdities of modern welfare economics."

Jasay traces the logical and historical progression of the state from a modest-sized protector of life and property through its development into what he believes to be an "agile seducer of democratic majorities, to the welfare-dispensing drudge that it is today." Can, Jasay wonders, this seemingly inexorable expansion of the state be stopped? Or "is the rational next step for the state] a totalitarian enhancement of its power?"

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0865971714
• ISBN13: 9780865971714
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Liberty Fund
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Postsecondary to Grade 5

Customer Reviews

Outstanding yet ultimately incomplete treatise

De Jasay presents us with a problem: Constitutions are the highest law of the land and intended to chain down Leviathan, but the constituion is just a document - a government document at that. Constitutions are tantamount to giving all the guns to one person and making them promise not to use them. They are like chastity belts on government growth - and government has the key.This book is a tour-de-force critique of constitutions. It recognizes them for what they are and nothing more. The book could have been a bit longer, with more specific examples: but perhaps the author would feel it would expose the inherent weakness in his argument. Some countries are more free than others - why? Does it have anything to do with written constitutions? Moral constitutions and cultural restrictions? The force of the people? De Jasay's analysis could have been complemented with an in-depth Public Choice analysis of how politics actually works, rather than a blanket statement denying any effect of constitutions. Even if de Jasay is right about all his points, his lack of perspectives makes the book seem like shoddy scholarship and philosophical ranting at times.Read this book if you want to understand some of the inherent problems with the idea of constitutional government, then ask yourself why de Jasay is wrong if you think he is. The writing in this book can be pessimistic and nearly lifeless, but several arguments are strong and insightful. It is an important piece of anarchist/libertarian literature and should not be overlooked.