Is politics immoral? Meet Princess Mathilde

Political and moral philosophy are related to economics, much less covertly to the older political economy. The economist cannot recommend public policy without making or accepting a value judgment consistent with who will be helped and who will be harmed. In any case, he must agree that the policy falls within the ethically acceptable functions of government.

Some of the great economists of our time have also been great political philosophers. I mainly think about Friedrich Hayek, James Buchananand Anthony de Jasay. The latter is not as well known as the other two, both Nobel laureates and members of the academic corporation, but I believe he was an equally important thinker – albeit a more radically different thinker.

De Jasay described himself as both a (classical) liberal and an anarchist. On Econlib I very recently reviewed his 1997 book Against Politics: On Government, Anarchy and Order. A quote from my review explains the title, “Princess Mathilde and the Immorality of Politics”:

Princess Mathilde, a niece of Napoleon Bonaparte, expressed a hedonistic-egoistic view of the state when she defended her late uncle, saying, “without that man I would have to sell oranges on the quay in Marseille.” The government, De Jasay argues, is essentially a redistributive mechanism that some, like Princess Mathilde, use very effectively for their own purposes. Politics helps some at the expense of others. This, he explains, is just as true, if not more so, in a democratic system, where the majority defines what the “common good” or “common good” is.

Bound by the zeitgeist of our time, most people will reject this statement (I propose some criticism myself). But it is not possible to rationally reject it without first understanding it. This book is a good way to do this. As a collection of articles, it does not have the unity of De Jasay’s 1985 book The state but on the other hand it offers the choice between more and less technical discussions.

Many chapters are must-reads. De Jasay provides interesting criticism of both Buchanan and Hayek. I conclude my review:

Yet, Against politics is a must-read for any political philosopher and for any economist interested in the philosophical implications of what he or she does. The book may become even more urgent for our descendants to read.

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DALL-E’s rather creative take on Princess Mathilde, with your humble blogger being responsible for the orange: