Independent Review articles from September 1997

Independent Review archives from September 1997

Constitutional rules, political accidents, and the course of history: new light on the annexation of Texas.
September 22, 1997... Personalities of such dramatic dimensions so dominated the struggle over the annexation of Texas that one can hardly imagine the events without these particular characters. The proponents, John Tyler and John C. Calhoun, worked furiously...

Has John Roemer resurrected market socialism?
September 22, 1997... John E. Roemer, a leading socialist economist, has recently proclaimed a "Future for Socialism" (Roemer 1994). His book is advertised as being "measured, highly accessible, and most of all compelling." I have come to the opposite conclusions....

South African economic development in the light of the new institutional economics.
September 22, 1997... The importance of institutions in shaping economic development is now widely acknowledged. Institutions matter because they affect incentives. The institutional framework of a society determines the degree to which its members will pursue...

Law, tradition, and the transition in Eastern Europe.
September 22, 1997... The end of communist rule in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (hereafter jointly termed Eastern Europe) created an institutional vacuum in the region. New leaders faced two critical issues: what new institutions to choose, and how...

The tempting of Richard Posner.
September 22, 1997... The reputation of Richard Posner among law professors of the Left, its measure being taken from published and casual comments, might not be any blacker if he boiled babies in their own blood and ate them.(1) Actually, he has suggested only...

Bostan, Bork, and the jurisprudence of limited government. (response to article by Richard Boston in this issue, p. 271, on Richard Posner)
September 22, 1997... Richard Bostan offers a spirited and witty critique of Richard Posner's constitutional jurisprudence. He argues that Posner is not a real conservative, but a poseur who plays the part when it suits him. Like a real conservative, Posner...

The quickening of social evolution: perspectives on proprietary (entrepreneurial) communities.
September 22, 1997... Years ago I read a translation, supposedly true, of a very early Egyptian sequence of hieroglyphs that said in effect that the world was going to it the dogs. After listing a number of lamentations, including the disobedience of young people...

Why did the East Germans rebel?
September 22, 1997... In June 1953, 500,000 citizens of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) participated in a mass revolt against the regime. Their protest was violently suppressed. Between 1953 and 1989, mass demonstrations were unheard of in the GDR. Then, in...

Hayek's Political Economy: The Socio-economics of Order.
September 22, 1997... Those who thought that Friedrich A. von Hayek's work has been so well researched that little new can be said about it will get a pleasant surprise, as well as considerable intellectual enlightenment, from reading Hayek's Political Economy. By...

Pay Any Price: Lyndon Johnson and The Wars for Vietnam.
September 22, 1997... In the opening pages of his lengthy history of the Johnson administration's Vietnam policy, Lloyd Gardner observes that explaining America's involvement in Vietnam is not a simple matter. To his credit, Gardner endeavors to provide a...

Sovereign Nations or Reservations? An Economic History of American Indians.
September 22, 1997... This book deals with two key aspects of the public image of American Indians in the United States today: their advocacy of respect for nature and their poverty. Regarding nature, Anderson seeks to defend the thesis that "rather than...

The Captive Press: Foreign Policy Crises and the First Amendment.
September 22, 1997... As you read Ted Galen Carpenter's The Captive Press, you get the idea that "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom... of the press" (the First Amendment) is a lot like "Thou shalt not kill": good advice, frequently ignored,...