Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War (Lib Works Ludwig Von Mises PB)

Description

Published in 1944, during World War II, Omnipotent Government was Mises's first book written and published after he arrived in the United States. In this volume Mises provides in economic terms an explanation of the international conflicts that caused both world wars. Although written more than half a century ago, Mises's main theme still stands:  government interference in the economy leads to conflicts and wars. According to Mises, the last and best hope for peace is liberalism—the philosophy of liberty, free markets, limited government, and democracy. Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) was the leading spokesman of the Austrian School of economics throughout most of the twentieth century. He earned his doctorate in law and economics from the University of Vienna in 1906. In 1926, Mises founded the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research. From 1909 to 1934, he was an economist for the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. Before the Anschluss, in 1934 Mises left for Geneva, where he was a professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies until 1940, when he emigrated to New York City. From 1948 to 1969, he was a visiting professor at New York University. Bettina Bien Greaves is a former resident scholar, trustee, and longtime staff member of the Foundation for Economic Education. She has written and lectured extensively on topics of free market economics. Her articles have appeared in such journals as Human Events, Reason, and The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty. A student of Mises, Greaves has become an expert on his work in particular and that of the Austrian School of economics in general. She has translated several Mises monographs, compiled an annotated bibliography of his work, and edited collections of papers by Mises and other members of the Austrian School. Cover Title Page Preface Table of Contents Introduction The Collapse of German Liberalism German Liberalism The Ancien Régime and Liberalism The Weakness of German Liberalism The Prussian Army The Constitutional Conflict in Prussia The “Little German” Program The Lassalle Episode The Triumph of Militarism The Prussian Army in the New German Empire German Militarism The Liberals and Militarism The Current Explanation of the Success of Militarism Nationalism Etatism The New Mentality The State The Political and Social Doctrines of Liberalism Socialism Socialism in Russia and in Germany Interventionism Etatism and Protectionism Economic Nationalism and Domestic Monopoly Prices Autarky German Protectionism Etatism and Nationalism The Principle of Nationality The Linguistic Group Liberalism and the Principle of Nationality Aggressive Nationalism Colonial Imperialism Foreign Investment and Foreign Loans Total War Socialism and War Refutation of Some Fallacious Explanations The Shortcomings of Current Explanations The Alleged Irrationality of Nationalism The Aristocratic Doctrine Misapprehended Darwinism The Role of Chauvinism The Role of Myths German Nazism The Peculiar Characteristics of German Nationalism The Awakening The Ascendancy of Pan-Germanism German Nationalism Within an Etatist World A Critique of German Nationalism Nazism and German Philosophy Polylogism Pan-Germanism and Nazism The Social Democrats in Imperial Germany The Legend Marxism and the Labor Movement The German Workers and the German State The Social Democrats Within the German Caste System The Social Democrats and War Anti-Semitism and Racism The Role of Racism The Struggle against the Jewish Mind Interventionism and Legal Discrimination against Jews The “Stab in the Back” Anti-Semitism as a Factor in International Politics The Weimar Republic and Its Collapse The Weimar Constitution The Abortive Socialization The Armed Parties The Treaty of Versailles The Economic Depression Nazism and German Labor The Foreign Critics of Nazism Nazism as a World Problem The Scope and Limitations of History The Fallacy of the Concept of “National Character” Germany’s Rubicon The Alternative The Future of Western Civilization The Delusions of World Planning The Term “Planning” The Dictatorship Complex A World Government Planned Production Foreign Trade Agreements Monetary Planning Planning International Capital Transactions Peace Schemes Armament Control A Critique of Some Other Schemes Proposed The Union of the Western Democracies Peace in Eastern Europe The Problems of Asia The Role of the League of Nations Conclusion Index