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Against the Dead Hand: The Uncertain Struggle for Global Capitalism
A refreshing, insightful look into the political and economic dynamics driving globalization today
it's earlier than you think. That's the provocative message of Against the Dead Hand, which traces the rise and fall of the century-long dream of central planning and top-down control and its impact on globalization-revealing the extent to which the "dead hand" of the old collectivist dream still shapes the contours of today's world economy. Mixing historical narrative, thought-provoking arguments, and on-the-scene reporting and interviews, Brink Lindsey shows how the economy has grown up amidst the wreckage of the old regime-detailing how that wreckage constrains the present and obscures the future. He conveys a clearer picture of globalization's current state than the current conventional wisdom, providing a framework for anticipating the future direction of the world economy.
it's earlier than you think. That's the provocative message of Against the Dead Hand, which traces the rise and fall of the century-long dream of central planning and top-down control and its impact on globalization-revealing the extent to which the "dead hand" of the old collectivist dream still shapes the contours of today's world economy. Mixing historical narrative, thought-provoking arguments, and on-the-scene reporting and interviews, Brink Lindsey shows how the economy has grown up amidst the wreckage of the old regime-detailing how that wreckage constrains the present and obscures the future. He conveys a clearer picture of globalization's current state than the current conventional wisdom, providing a framework for anticipating the future direction of the world economy.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 3, 2007
First of, by way of full disclosure, I was forced to read this book for an economics class.
And I didn't really like it. Until I finished it, at which time I liked it a little better. This might be the same effect that causes me to remember former presidents more fondly after their funerals, I don't know.
The authors main point is really very simple- free markets are better for society than "collectivist" systems. (Collectivist( http://dictionary.reference.com/brows... )is a term the author uses over and over, but one that you rarely hear down here on the ground) He goes on to cite historical situations and claim that they support his point.
Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, but his take on political and social situations, and what he presumes to be cause and effect relationships with economic situations, are interesting; the real truth is that I couldn't put down the book, even while disagreeing with (and occasionally disliking) the author.
Mr Lindsey has another point, a result of the first: "Globalization", the increasing freedom of movement for capital and goods around the world, is both inevitable and desirable, and it is only through free trade and the cosmopolitan attitudes associated with it that lasting peace can be achieved.
And he might have a point. My disagreements with him tend to be associated with ommission- his view of Global Capitalism is a tad rosy, and it rarely takes responsibility for its actions.
I wouldn't swear to it, but I do not remember him ever using the word "Sweatshop", for example. He may just have been spelling it differently ("e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d-e-m-p-l-o-y-m-e-n-t" or something similar), but he never addresses the dark side of unfettered capitalism to my satisfaction. Nor does he sufficiently contemplate the idea that socialist revoltions in asia and europe might be a result of the economic liberalism of the victorian age.
Just sayin, that's all.
So anyway, there it is. It's a good read, if you like that kind of thing, and despite the many and multifarious ways in which the author is fundamentally wrong, his opinions and arguments are worth reading, if only sharpen your own veiwpoint.
And I didn't really like it. Until I finished it, at which time I liked it a little better. This might be the same effect that causes me to remember former presidents more fondly after their funerals, I don't know.
The authors main point is really very simple- free markets are better for society than "collectivist" systems. (Collectivist( http://dictionary.reference.com/brows... )is a term the author uses over and over, but one that you rarely hear down here on the ground) He goes on to cite historical situations and claim that they support his point.
Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, but his take on political and social situations, and what he presumes to be cause and effect relationships with economic situations, are interesting; the real truth is that I couldn't put down the book, even while disagreeing with (and occasionally disliking) the author.
Mr Lindsey has another point, a result of the first: "Globalization", the increasing freedom of movement for capital and goods around the world, is both inevitable and desirable, and it is only through free trade and the cosmopolitan attitudes associated with it that lasting peace can be achieved.
And he might have a point. My disagreements with him tend to be associated with ommission- his view of Global Capitalism is a tad rosy, and it rarely takes responsibility for its actions.
I wouldn't swear to it, but I do not remember him ever using the word "Sweatshop", for example. He may just have been spelling it differently ("e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d-e-m-p-l-o-y-m-e-n-t" or something similar), but he never addresses the dark side of unfettered capitalism to my satisfaction. Nor does he sufficiently contemplate the idea that socialist revoltions in asia and europe might be a result of the economic liberalism of the victorian age.
Just sayin, that's all.
So anyway, there it is. It's a good read, if you like that kind of thing, and despite the many and multifarious ways in which the author is fundamentally wrong, his opinions and arguments are worth reading, if only sharpen your own veiwpoint.
September 8, 2013
I couldn't put this book down once I started it. It's a very engaging, well written book explaining the importance of globalization in our forward economic progress and the barriers to globalization (the dead hand) that still attempt to block globalization. If you don't understand already, this book helps you realize just how small the world really is and how important it is that we all work together to promote what is in all our best economic interests.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews