The Foreign Policy of a Democratic Socialist Regime: From Intervention to Protection to Warfare

Makovi, Michael (2016): The Foreign Policy of a Democratic Socialist Regime: From Intervention to Protection to Warfare.

Abstract

Discussions of democratic socialism have focused on whether that system is compatible with domestic civil liberties. Less attention has been paid to its foreign policy implications. Despite the widespread acceptance of the democratic peace hypothesis, democratic socialism would be incompatible with peaceful foreign relations. Economic intervention and economic planning – even democratic – cannot be successful without insulating the domestic economy from foreign competition. This implies economic nationalism and autarky. Moreover, democratic socialism is often justified by the notion that the democratic will of the people should be absolutely sovereign. Such a conception of democracy has no place for constitutional limits on power. Such an unlimited democracy would soon prove illiberal and liable to be captured by a demagogic authoritarian dictator, and this would only exacerbate the deleterious foreign policy consequences of economic nationalism. Democratic socialism is therefore incompatible with the cosmopolitan and humanitarian values of democratic socialists.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Hayek; Road to Serfdom; democratic socialism; market socialism; economic democracy; totalitarianism; public choice; government failure; impossibility
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A12 - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B24 - Socialist ; Marxist ; Sraffian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B25 - Historical ; Institutional ; Evolutionary ; Austrian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B51 - Socialist ; Marxian ; Sraffian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B53 - Austrian; D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D70 - General; F - International Economics > F0 - General; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P10 - General; P - Economic Systems > P2 - Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies > P20 - General; P - Economic Systems > P3 - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions > P30 - General; P - Economic Systems > P5 - Comparative Economic Systems > P50 - General

References

Adamson, Walter L. “Review: Convergences in Recent Democratic Theory.” Theory and Society 18:1 (Jan.): 125-142.

Boaz, David. (2005). “The Man Who Told the Truth: Robert Heilbroner fessed up to the failure of socialism.” Reason. 21 Sept. <http://reason.com/archives/2005/01/21/the-man-who-told-the-truth> [accessed: 17 Feb. 2016]

Boaz, David. (2016). “What Socialism Requires.” Huffington Post. 22 Sept. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-boaz/bernie-sanders-democratic-socialism_b_9055290.html> [accessed: 17 Feb. 2016]

Boettke, Peter J. (1995). “Hayek's The Road to Serfdom Revisited: Government Failure in the Argument Against Socialism.” Eastern Economic Journal 21:1 (Winter): 7-26. Rpt. in Boettke, Calculation and Coordination, London/NY: Routledge: 47-65.

Cassel, Gustav. (1934). “From Protectionism through Planned Economy to Dictatorship: Address Delivered in London on May 10, 1934.” International Conciliation 16 (1934-1935) 307-25. <http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/intcon16&g_sent=1&collection=journals&id=321#321> [accessed: 11 April 2014]

Dafoe, Allan, John R. Oneal, and Bruce Russett. (2013). “The Democratic Peace: Weighing the Evidence and Cautious Inference.” International Studies Quarterly 57:1 (March): 201–214.

Douglass, Frederick. (1991 [1864]). “A Friendly Word to Maryland: An Address Delivered in Baltimore, Maryland.” The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series One: Debates and Interviews, Volume 4: 1864-80. New Haven: Yale University Press: 48.

Ebeling, Richard. (1997). “Book Review” (review of Rummel 1997a). Freedom Daily. November. <https://web.archive.org/web/20121110193633/http://fff.org/freedom/1197f.asp> [accessed: 21 March 2016].

Friedman, Milton. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.

Fukuyama, Francis. (1997). “Power Kills: Democracy As a Method of Nonviolence” (review of Rummel 1997a). Foreign Affairs. Nov./Dec. <https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/1997-11-01/power-kills-democracy-method-nonviolence> [accessed: 21 Mar. 2016]

Goenner, Cullen F. (2004). “Uncertainty of the Liberal Peace.” Journal of Peace Research 41(5): 589-605.

Hague, Rod and Martin Harrop. (2007). Comparative Government and Politics: An Introduction. 7th edition. Basingstroke, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan.

Hayek, F. A. (2007 [1944]). The Road to Serfdom. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Hayek, F. A. (1984a [1976]). “Whither Democracy?”. Lecture of 8 Oct. 1976, rpt. in The Essence of Hayek. Eds. Chiaki Nishiyama and Kurt R. Leube. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press: 352-362.

Hayek, F. A. (1948). Individualism and the Economic Order. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.

Harrington, Michael. (1978). Untitled reply to Heilbroner (1978). Dissent 25:3 (Summer): 355-357.

Heilbroner, Robert L. (1978). “What is Socialism?” Dissent 25:3 (Summer): 341-348.

Heilbroner, Robert L. (1986). The Nature and Logic of Capitalism. NY & London: W. W. Norton & Company.

Hoff, Trygve J. B. (1981). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Society. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund. (Orig. London / Edinburgh / Glasgow: William Hodge, 1949. Trans. M. A. Michael from the orig. Økonomisk Kalkulasjon i Socialistiske Samfund. Oslo: H. Aschehoug, 1938.)

Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. (1993). “Marxist and Austrian Class Analysis.” In Maltsev (1993: 51-73).

Ikeda, Sanford. (2016). “'Democratic Socialism' Is a Contradiction in Terms: What Happens When You Try to Combine Democracy with Socialism?.” The Freeman. March 17th. <http://fee.org/articles/democratic-socialism-is-a-contradiction-in-terms/> [accessed: 24 March 2016].

Jewkes, John. (1968 [1948]). The New Ordeal By Planning: The Experience of the Forties and Sixties. London/Melbourne/Toronto: Macmillan & New York: St. Martin's. (Updated from The Ordeal by Planning. New York: Macmillan, 1948.)

Kim, Hyung Min and David L. Rousseau. (2005). “The Classical Liberals Were Half Right (or Half Wrong): New Tests of the ‘Liberal Peace’, 1960–88.” Journal of Peace Research 42(5): 523-543.

Lavoie, Don. (1985.) National Economic Planning: What is Left?. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.

Maltsev, Yuri N. (1993). Requiem for Marx. Auburn, AL: Auburn University / Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Makovi, Michael. (2016a). “The Impossibility of Democratic Socialism: Two Conceptions of Democracy.” Unpublished working paper. <https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/70172> [accessed: 20 March 2016].

Makovi, Michael. (2016b). “Labor Economics in a Planned Economy: F. A. Hayek and John Jewkes on the Impossibility of Democratic Socialism.” Unpublished working paper. <https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/70174> [accessed: 20 March 2016].

Makovi, Michael. (2016c). “Interest Groups and the Impossibility of Democratic Socialism: Hayek, Jewkes, and the Arrow Theorem.” Unpublished working paper. <https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/70173> [accessed: 20 March 2016].

Mayer, Robert. (2001). "Robert Dahl and the Right to Workplace Democracy." The Review of Politics 63:2 (Spring): 221-247.

Mises, Ludwig von. (1990). Money, Method, and the Market Process: Essays by Ludwig von Mises. Selected by Margit von Mises, edited by Richard Ebeling. Norwell, Massachusetts: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Mises, Ludwig von. (1985 [1944]). Omnipotent Government: The Rise of Total State and Total War. Grove City: Libertarian Press. (Orig. Yale University Press, 1944.)

Mises, Ludwig von. (1983 [1919]). Nation, State, and Economy: Contributions to the Politics and History of Our Time. New York & London: New York University Press. (Trans. Leland B. Yeager from the orig. Nation, Staat und Wirtschaft, Vienna and Leipzig: Manzsche Verlags- und Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1919.)

Mousseau, Michael. (2013). “The Democratic Peace Unraveled: It’s the Economy.” International Studies Quarterly 57:1 (March): 186-197.

Osterfeld, David. (1992). Prosperity Versus Planning: How Government Stifles Economic Growth. NY/Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Palmer, Tom G. (2009). “Classical Liberalism, Marxism, and the Conflict of Classes: The Classical Liberal Theory of Class Conflict,” in Palmer, Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice. Washington, DC: Cato Institute: 255-275.

Percy, Lord of Newcastle. (1955). The Heresy of Democracy: A Study in the History of Government. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co.

Raico, Ralph. (1974). “Classical-Liberal Exploitation Theory.” Conference paper delivered at the Second Annual Libertarian Scholars' Conference, New York City, 26 Oct. 261974. <https://mises.org/library/classical-liberal-exploitation-theory-0> [accessed: 26 Aug. 2015]

Raico, Ralph. (1993). “Classical Liberal Roots of the Marxist Doctrine of Classes.” In Maltsev (1993: 189-220).

Röpke (Roepke), Wilhelm. (1998 [1957]). A Humane Economy. Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

Rummel, R. J. (1997a). Power Kills: Democracy As a Method of Nonviolence. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction.

Rummel, R. J. (1997b). “On the Nature of Democracy.” Ch. 8 of Rummel (1997a). <https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/PK.CHAP8.HTM> [accessed: 21 March 2016].

Talmon, Jacob. (1960). The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy. NY: Praeger.

Weede, Erich. (2004). “The Diffusion of Prosperity and Peace by Globalization.” Independent Review 9:2 (Fall): 165-186.

Weinburg, Mark. (1978). “The Social Analysis of Three Early 19th Century French Liberals: Say, Comte, and Dunoyer.” Journal of Libertarian Studies 2(1): 45-63. <https://mises.org/library/social-analysis-three-early-19th-century-french-liberals-say-comteand-dunoyer> [accessed: 26 Oct. 2015].