- Margaret Thatcher: Freedom Fighter
- Japan: Revolution in the Air
- Argentina's Economy: Gaucho Blues
- Nigeria: Lurching Ahead
- The Dangers of Debt: Shadows Lengthen
- Germany and the Euro: Don’t Make us Führer
Re-read (or read, if you haven't yet) the piece by Gilpin for this previous Wednesday. Identify elements in each story that reflect Gilpin's ideas of statism/mercantilism, liberalism and radicalism/Marxism.
For extra credit, share (in the comments) what the statist, liberal and radical solutions would be to the problems described in some of these stories.
In the Economist entitled “Freedom Fighter” the following comment appears, “Henry Kissinger, a former American secretary of state, put it, referring to Germany just after unification in 1871, it was “too big for Europe, but too small for the world”.
ReplyDeleteHaving studied German for the past 4 years, and having the education of a Kindergarten student, I found this article extremely interesting. This specific quote caught my attention, for a few reasons: I know a lot about the political figure of Henry Kissinger, as well as the German Unification. This quote from Kissinger is relevant to the country then and now, and is obviously why the author of the Economist article used it. Was Germany really too small for the world though?
If anyone was given half the history education that I had as a public school student at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century; it is obvious that Germany was too big for the world in early 20th century for around three decades. Within a century, Germany went from the most powerful European nation, to one of the weakest European nations after the collapse of the Soviet Union and reunification. Since 1991, Germany has embraced both Capitalism and Socialism at a steeper rate than the United States or even the United Kingdom. Socialism for Great Britain came at a heightened extent in the early 60s when they implemented the tenet of Universal “State-provided” healthcare; something the U.S. has just recently accepted after half-a-century. I may be wrong on a few of these exact details, but I think I’m 90% right on my dates. If this were a research paper, then I would look up to see if my “facts” are indeed facts. Moral of the story, Germany embraced its: freedom, both for its citizenry and economically; place in the European scene, Europe being just a part of the whole world of diverse politics and unique governing thoughts which differ throughout each country; and finally its place in the world, as neither the best or worst- but rather a young player in the new world of politics which came with the evolution in technology as seen since the beginning of the 21st century. Germany is no longer too small for the world, but rather, too good at finding a niche in whatever century that Germany tries to come to dominance.
Merkel isn’t a Hitler; the world should rejoice!
In "Japan: A Revolution in the Air," a radical would be following the same steps as Shinzo Abe. By attempting to double the central bank's holdings of bonds, he is counting on private institutions to stimulate the economy by further investing their money directly into the economy, rather than wasting their time and money on the increasing number of bonds in the system. A liberal, however, would be concerned about the rising amount of bonds causing the decreased value of the yen. While Abe is taking great risks to yield great results, a liberal would see this move as very risky.
ReplyDeleteThe article, "Japan: Revolution in the Air," discusses the current state of Japan's economy with the election of a new prime minster, Shinzo Abe. In this article, Gilpin's ideas of statism/mercantilism are present in how the economy is at the volition of the states interests. We see this in Abe's plan to open protected sectors such as electricity, healthcare, and farming to competition in the market. Gilpin's ideas of liberalism, in that politics and economics are separable and autonomous activities, are vaguely present in the article. However, his ideas on radicalism/Marxism are present in that economics determines politics and political structure. In the article the waning economy prompted Abe to implement large scale change by calling for an inflation target of two percent, and by doubling the central bank's holdings of government funds.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Ward