Can the Free Market Work without Virtue?

Abstract

Libertarianism has become one of the most influential movements of the last twenty years. Its political effects can be seen as the driving force behind many in the ranks of the Republican-controlled Congress. This article is a presentation and critical examination of the founding principles of Libertarianism. It argues that much is valid in free-market ideas, especially at the microeconomic level. However, Libertarianism overstates the case for rational actors, understates the necessity for government action to maintain security, misunderstands the complexity of human behavior, neglects the need to foster civil associations, and ignores the natural proclivity of people to be virtuous independent of self-interest.     

Thailand: The Making of a Miracle?

Over the last half century, Thailand has been one of the fastest growing developing countries. This article reviews the causes of that growth. It deals both with the immediate factors, in a growth accounting framework, and with the underlying social and political factors. The author reaches the conclusion that a dynamic entrepreneurial class together with a supportive state were the key elements in Thailand’s rapid and efficient accumulation of production factors. Although in this respect Thailand is similar to a small number of other East Asian countries, the Thai case also has a number of unique characteristics.     

Gender and Export Manufacturing in the Philippines: Continuity or change in female employment? The case of the Mactan Export Processing Zone

This paper explores the bases of gendered recruitment and occupational segmentation in the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), the Philippines. It examines the extent to which patterns of demand for specific types of female labour (in terms of age, marital status, education and so on) mirror those in EPZs in other parts of the developing world. Two important (and interrelated) variations in Mactan are the desire amongst employers to foster long-term loyalty among their workers, and the acceptance of married women with children in rank-and-file positions (if not in initial recruitment, at least once workers are in post). While not unknown in other countries, the relative distinctiveness of these patterns underlines the need to explore the diversity in export manufacturing operations in terms of the geographical origins of parent companies, the proximity of offshore sites to transnational corporation (TNC) headquarters, the type of items manufactured and the nature of production processes (including degrees of mechanisation and whether goods are subject to partial or complete assembly), relative wage levels in developing countries, and the specificity of gender roles and relations in different localities. Recognising that gender inequalities underpin female recruitment in export factories in Mactan, the article also explores how involvement in this work reaffirms and/or modifies disadvantage in the context of women's personal, home and working lives.     

Heritage Momentum or Maelstrom? The case of Ottawa's Byward Market

The recent momentum of heritage is traced in the revitalised ?old town' of the Canadian capital. The paper focuses upon the problems of heritage creation, the ?3 Ds': development, dissonance, derivatives. The universal relevance of these problems is reiterated, even if less vivid elsewhere than in a perceptually resource-scarce and culturally diverse New World capital city.     

Objects and interactivity: A conflict or a collaboration?

The rapid growth in the number of hands‐on centres has led to fears of museums being taken over by interactive exhibits. These are expensive to develop and maintain, causing a problem for traditional museums faced with ever‐expanding collections and diminishing resources. This article considers whether objects and interactive exhibits are inevitably in conflict or whether they can coexist in harmony. The implications for future developments at the Science Museum in London are considered in detail.

The authors conclude that, far from conflicting with traditional museum functions, interactive exhibits and new technologies will help to ensure that museums are able to compete in an increasingly complex marketplace. Their vision of the interactive gallery of the future incorporates exhibits which enhance understanding of artefacts. In short, the objective will be to ensure that visitors interacting with ‘hands‐on’ exhibits will take away ‘minds‐on’ understanding of the museum as a whole.     

A Free Trade Area of the Americas in 2005?

In the second presidential summit of the Americas, which took place in April 1998 in Santiago de Chile, 34 heads of states of the Americas announced that they were ready to start negotiating a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), to be concluded by 2005. This article briefly discusses the current trend in favour of regional preferential trade agreements, describes how the proposal for an FTAA came about, explores more than three years of negotiations that made it possible and assesses the probability of its success.     

Developing Psychogeriatric Services in England: A Turning Point in the 1960s?

Attitudes towards autonomy and personal freedom changed in the 1960s in England, but hardly touched the needs of dependent older people. In particular, deeply embedded public and professional attitudes and priorities linked to little change in ‘psychogeriatric’ treatment for those who were mentally unwell. Total beds in psychiatric hospitals decreased, but those remaining were increasingly and disproportionately occupied by older people receiving custodial care, often long term, despite evidence that appropriate treatment could prevent admission and facilitate discharge. Widely publicised scandals of inhumane care of older people in psychiatric hospitals prompted a more responsive government approach to improving services.     

Russia: A Part of Europe or Apart from Europe?

The controversial framework of interaction between Russia and Europe is defined by some enduring parameters—geographic realities, historical experiences, religious beliefs, normative values, psychological characteristics, behavioural patterns, cultural orientations. The incongruity between cultural/civilizational and geopolitical identities further complicates Russia's perceptions of, and attitudes to, Europe. Russia's initial pro-Western enthusiasm in the early post-Cold War period was soon overshadowed by serious difficulties in its adaptation to a reduced position in Europe, as well as by numerous grievances with respect to the West. As a result, Russia's attempts to develop a 'pan-European architecture', as well as its policy with regard to multilateral structures operating in continental Europe, have been marked by deeply contradictory patterns of promoting openness towards Europe on the one hand and keeping a certain distance from it on the other. The enlargement of NATO and especially recent NATO military operations in the Balkans have been perceived in Russia not only as confrontational but also as relegating it to the sidelines of European developments. Although Russia's long-awaited transition to the post-Yeltsin era and its new European perspective have been undermined by the war in Chechnya, President Putin's unexpected pro-Westernism (its pragmatism notwithstanding) is a promising sign of rapprochement with Europe.     

A question of national identity or minority rights? The changing status of the Irish language in Ireland since 1922

When the Irish Free State was founded in 1922, the Irish language was a substantial feature of the politics that led up to this event. Subsequently the language was recognised as the national and first official language of the Irish Free State. Since then, the de jure position of Irish appears to have evolved. Most recently, legislation was introduced in the Republic of Ireland, and statutory duties were placed upon certain public bodies with regard to the Irish language in Northern Ireland. This article examines this historical shift in the status of Irish in the two political jurisdictions in Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland [as a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK)], and explains its significance.     

Territorial Cohesion of Tomorrow: A Path to Cooperation or Competition?

Explicit reference was made to “Territorial Cohesion” in the draft Constitution for Europe. The concept has recently been celebrated by many stakeholders of territorial development policies, including the European community of planners. Territorial Cohesion does not seem to have received any official definition, but it is clearly meant to aim at some sort of “spatial justice” while promoting integration between EU sector policies that have a territorial impact. Seemingly a consensual principle: who in Europe would object to a better coherence between various EU policies and the provision of reasonably equal standards of living to all EU citizens, regardless of their area of settlement? Yet a close examination of the current political debate suggests that very divergent views are being expressed as to what Territorial Cohesion exactly entails in practical terms. Two main different policy approaches seem to emerge in this debate. The first approach tends to equate Territorial Cohesion to a range of positive discrimination steps in favour of various penalised areas. Interest groups, in particular lobbies for specific regions, have proved influential in propagating this conception. In the area of regional policy, this approach embodies the neo-corporatist, depoliticised line of the contemporary political culture. It is primarily inspired by financial considerations and a competitive zero-sum game scenario: regions of a specific category should increase their share of the EU funding at the expense of the others. The opposite approach places much more emphasis on the need for integrated territorial planning strategies and the integration of EU policies. Its proponents are the heirs of the post-war urban and regional planning tradition. They strive to revive the politicised and rationalist ideology of the Enlightenment, based on the notion of public interest. They raise awareness about the steadily growing interdependence between regions and cities of Europe and advocate a cooperative approach focusing on issues of transnational relevance and win-win situations. This rather idealistic cooperative approach seems to be less influential than its rival, and currently confined to a relatively small group of planning professionals. The question remains: which of the two models—interregional competition or cooperation—will finally succeed in shaping the EU cohesion policy?