Political Economies (continued): Fascism and the Welfare State
Political Economies (continued): Fascism and the Welfare State
Fascism: A fascist regime is “government according to the insights and views of a strong leader or ruler who is trusted to steer the country in the right direction both economically and culturally.” There is no specific theory such a ruler needs to follow, so under fascism one can find capitalist, socialist, welfare statist and other regimes, just as the ruler believes is best.
Contemporary political economies are mixtures of fascism, socialism, capitalism, anarchism, etc. Most of them stress aspects of certain systems more than those of others but in each one will find a mixture.
Recent largely fascist systems are those of Mussolini’s Italy, Peron’s Argentina, Hitler’s Third Reich, Chavez’ Venezuela, and several of recent Middle Eastern regimes (e.g., Libya), Egypt, et al. So called communist regimes are also effectively fascist since they tend to be ruled by an undemocratic group of rulers—e.g., North Korea, Cuba.
Welfare Statism
The welfare state or, from the economic viewpoint, the mixed economy, may be understood as a combination of the principles of capitalism and socialism. Sometimes the emphasis in this system is placed not so much on economic as on certain moral considerations. Basically the welfare state consists of a legal system that aims at securing for everyone the negative right to liberty and the positive right to well being.
The welfare state, which is to say most Western countries, balances the two values that together seem to its advocates to be the bedrock of a civilized society. No one ought to have his or her sovereignty seriously compromised, nor should anyone be permitted to fall below a certain standard of living. This is difficult to maintain because at different times one or another of these objectives will probably take priority and in mostly democratic systems political leaders will vacillate between giving more support to one or the other. The right to
Fascism: A fascist regime is “government according to the insights and views of a strong leader or ruler who is trusted to steer the country in the right direction both economically and culturally.” There is no specific theory such a ruler needs to follow, so under fascism one can find capitalist, socialist, welfare statist and other regimes, just as the ruler believes is best.
Contemporary political economies are mixtures of fascism, socialism, capitalism, anarchism, etc. Most of them stress aspects of certain systems more than those of others but in each one will find a mixture.
Recent largely fascist systems are those of Mussolini’s Italy, Peron’s Argentina, Hitler’s Third Reich, Chavez’ Venezuela, and several of recent Middle Eastern regimes (e.g., Libya), Egypt, et al. So called communist regimes are also effectively fascist since they tend to be ruled by an undemocratic group of rulers—e.g., North Korea, Cuba.
Welfare Statism
The welfare state or, from the economic viewpoint, the mixed economy, may be understood as a combination of the principles of capitalism and socialism. Sometimes the emphasis in this system is placed not so much on economic as on certain moral considerations. Basically the welfare state consists of a legal system that aims at securing for everyone the negative right to liberty and the positive right to well being.
The welfare state, which is to say most Western countries, balances the two values that together seem to its advocates to be the bedrock of a civilized society. No one ought to have his or her sovereignty seriously compromised, nor should anyone be permitted to fall below a certain standard of living. This is difficult to maintain because at different times one or another of these objectives will probably take priority and in mostly democratic systems political leaders will vacillate between giving more support to one or the other. The right to