Political Thought

The place of consent in politics: The view of the State discussed in the previous Article involves a new attitude to the problem of authority. It involves, of Course, the exercise of power by persons and it admits that the number of persons legally entrusted with power is likely to remain small. But its center … Read more

The movement towards a new order: No effort is more suspect in our time than the criticism of the existing rights of property. It is wrong because it is subversive. It is futile because it is Utopian. It is erroneous because it runs counter to the eternal laws of human nature. But the existing rights … Read more

The Problem of incentive: If this be true, the main problem of property is a psychological one. The old system has passed because the spread of education made it impossible to utilize the motives which were sufficient for its functioning a half-century ago. Largely it was built upon fear, and systems built upon fear bear … Read more

Property as a theory of industrial organization: A society might pay a just reward to its members and still remain essentially unfree. Nothing is easier than to persuade men to exchange power for material comfort. The rights of property  must, therefore, to be well founded involve a theory of industrial organization not less than a … Read more

Property And Effort: Practically speaking, theories of reward have divided themselves into four main classes. There is the general communist case for equality of income. The argument on its behalf is a much stronger argument than is generally admitted. A man’s “pull” upon society is very largely what his purchasing power is if, therefore, we … Read more

The Moral Basis Of Property: Such a concept of property is conceivable if we seek to view man as a subject of rights. He has then the right to control things in the degree that such control enables him to be his best self. He can claim, that is, such a share of the national … Read more

The Present System Of Property: The root instinct of man is self preservation. Because he must guard himself from danger he has developed an acquisitive faculty which now forms the basis of all Western institutions. The world over, States are divisible into those who, out of that impulse to acquire, possess property which is a … Read more

Liberty And Government: This view of liberty and equality lays cardinal importance upon the powers of government and the mechanisms by which they may be made to respond to the wills of those affected. I do not argue that the action of legislation can make men free and equal but unless some such conditions exist … Read more

Liberty And Equality In International Aspect: So far, I have discussed conceptions of liberty and equality as though they raised problems soluble within the confines of a single State. But in fact the issues go far beyond that territorial limitation. World co-operation, as I argued earlier, has advanced to the point where we must legislate … Read more

Liberty And Equality channels converge towards the concept of equality No idea is more difficult in the whole realm of political science. To minds so ardent for liberty as Tocqueville and Lord Acton liberty and equality were antithetic things. It is a drastic conclusion. But it turns, in the case of both men, upon a … Read more