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Hans-Hermann Hoppe
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Democracy – The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order (Perspectives on Democratic Practice) 1st Edition

by Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 270 ratings
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The core of this book is a systematic treatment of the historic transformation of the West from monarchy to democracy. Revisionist in nature, it reaches the conclusion that monarchy is a lesser evil than democracy, but outlines deficiencies in both. Its methodology is axiomatic-deductive, allowing the writer to derive economic and sociological theorems, and then apply them to interpret historical events.

A compelling chapter on time preference describes the progress of civilization as lowering time preferences as capital structure is built, and explains how the interaction between people can lower time all around, with interesting parallels to the Ricardian Law of Association. By focusing on this transformation, the author is able to interpret many historical phenomena, such as rising levels of crime, degeneration of standards of conduct and morality, and the growth of the mega-state. In underscoring the deficiencies of both monarchy and democracy, the author demonstrates how these systems are both inferior to a natural order based on private-property.

Hoppe deconstructs the classical liberal belief in the possibility of limited government and calls for an alignment of conservatism and libertarianism as natural allies with common goals. He defends the proper role of the production of defense as undertaken by insurance companies on a free market, and describes the emergence of private law among competing insurers.

Having established a natural order as superior on utilitarian grounds, the author goes on to assess the prospects for achieving a natural order. Informed by his analysis of the deficiencies of social democracy, and armed with the social theory of legitimation, he forsees secession as the likely future of the US and Europe, resulting in a multitude of region and city-states. This book complements the author's previous work defending the ethics of private property and natural order. Democracy - The God that Failed will be of interest to scholars and students of history, political economy, and political philosophy.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0765808684
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0765808684
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publication date
    July 30, 2001
  5. Part of series
    Perspectives on Democratic Practice
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6 x 0.74 x 9 inches
  8. Print length
    304 pages
  9. See all details
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About the Author

Hoppe, Hans-Hermann

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (July 30, 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0765808684
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0765808684
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.74 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 270 ratings

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Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

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4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
270 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Diana L. Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Freedom is always superior to government.
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2004
Verified Purchase
Hoppe's introduction alone is worth the price of the book. And it is crucial to read the introduction before starting the book. He explains a priori knowledge ("propositions which assert something about reality and can be validated independent of the outcome of any future experience") in a simple, straightforward manner providing many examples. I stress this because although the Austrian Economists, which includes Hoppe, regularly mention a priori knowledge/theory - some of which is more commonly known as human nature - this is the first time I've seen it explained in such a clear and concise manner.
Hoppe also defines what a monopoly is and stresses that all governments are monopolies and must result in declining product quality at steadily increasing prices for any activity they are engaged in. And, of course, the reason monopolies always behave this way is explained by a priori theory.
Another significant point the author makes in the introduction is the inability of most historians to logically interpret, or choose between competing interpretations, the facts they so meticulously gather. As Hoppe states, "The principle advantage that the political economist and philosopher has over the mere historian (and the benefits to be gained from the study of political economy and philosophy by the historian) is his knowledge of pure - a priori - social theory, which enables him to avoid otherwise unavoidable errors in the interpretation of sequences of complex historical data and present a theoretically corrected or "reconstructed," and a decidedly critical or "revisionist" account of history".
Needless to say, a priori theory threads it way through the remainder of the book, which, by the way, is useful and enlightening itself. My favorite chapters were one, seven, eight, and ten.
Chapter one deals with time preference and how that determines whether society is moving in the direction of increasing civilization through savings and investment (low time preference) or its opposite, decivilization (high time preference). Hoppe shows how government is the biggest contributor to high time preference.
In chapters seven and eight the author discusses the merits and demerits of free or restricted immigration. Hoppe's arguments have encouraged me to rethink my position on this issue, which had been to support free and open immigration for all. He also discusses forced integration and free trade. His arguments favoring free trade are, in my view, simply unchallengeable.
Chapter ten deals with conservatism and libertarianism. Hoppe and Rothbard's descriptions of "modal" libertarians are right on the money. As a former member of the Libertarian Party and county chairman for several years, I could have written these descriptions myself!
In its entirety, I thought the book was excellent. Frankly, as an amateur economist and libertarian, it has to rank as one of the best book I've ever read.
27 people found this helpful
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Lord Chimp
5.0 out of 5 stars down with democracy.
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2003
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Hans-Hermann Hoppe is a very important political economist and philosopher in the intellectual tradition of the Austrian School of Economics -- I would say he is without a doubt the most important anarchocapitalist thinker since Murray Rothbard. His book, _Democracy: The God That Failed_, is the most devastating and solid critique of democracy I have seen, and is essential reading for everyone in our new millennium.
Democracy is conventionally regarded as the best form of government. Even most rigorous anti-statists such as Murray Rothbard (to whom Hoppe is intellectually indebted) looked upon democracy as an improvement over alternative systems of government. Professor Hoppe dissents with this view, averring that monarchy (ancien-regime-style) is a 'better' system than democracy. However, this is _not_ a defense of monarchy, for Hoppe sees any form of state as morally unjustifiable. Rather, _Democracy: The God That Failed_ serves a twin purpose: firstly, to interpret history and account for the dramatic rise in exploitation observed in the democratic age. Secondly, Hoppe asserts the moral and economic superiority of a system he calls "natural order" -- a stateless society of private property anarchy.
By what insight does Hoppe show that monarchy is the superior system? It is shockingly brilliant in its simplicity, yet the implications that follow are critical. What Hoppe states is this: A monarch is essentially the _private_ owner of the government -- all exploited resources are *owned* by him. (Perhaps the insightful reader will already be able to predict Hoppe's conclusion.) As such, he will work to maximize both current income and the total capital value of his estate. In effect, he owns the kingdom. Thus, assuming self-interest, his planning horizon will be farsighted and exploitation be far more limited. Contrarily, in a publicly-owned government -- i.e. democracy -- the rulers' have current use of resources only, not their capital value. These government caretakers cannot personally keep that which is exploited from the tax-producers. Thus, systematic property violations will be greater under a democracy. In economic jargon, the monarch's degree of time-preference will be substantially lower than that of the publicly-owned government caretaker due to difference in ownership. But isn't the democratic system kept in check by elections? Not really, argues Hoppe, as those in power "buy" votes with their redistribution policies and egalitarian schemes. (Just like Alberta's current premiere buys votes with oil rebate checks, psh.)
With these propositions, Hoppe examines issues the varying impact of monarchies and democracies on time preference (the rate at which present satisfaction is preferred to future satisfaction) (Chapter 1), differing policies on immigration (Chapters 7 and 8), differences in degree of exploitation (Chapter 2) the economics of redistribution (Chapter 4).
He also makes the positive case for a natural order in the private production of security (Chapter 12), explains the erroneous classical liberal belief in the possibility of a limited government (Chapters 11 and 13), explores methods of desocialization of public property (Chapter 6), argues for the right to secession (Chapter 5) and myriad other important things. One crucial chapter is "On Conservatism and Libertarianism" (Chapter 10), where Hoppe demonstrates that libertarians and conservatives are natural allies in their goals, thus libertarians must be social conservatives and conservatives must be anti-state libertarians. Their goals can only be realized in alliance against all opponents to private property rights, as well as the false libertarians (modal libertarians) and socialist conservatives and neoconservatives.
In response to roGER's asinine review (I won't even comment on his blatant post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy about democracies and their GDPs), it is obvious that he simply does not understand what Professor Hoppe has done here. Firstly, this is not a defense of monarchy. Secondly, in order to correctly interpret history, Professor Hoppe's analysis of monarchical and democratic systems is rooted in social science theories that are established a priori. Thus it is important to recognize that his argument cannot be proven or refuted on empirical grounds. However, this does not detract from the power of his argument -- quite the contrary, it makes the position in _Democracy: The God That Failed_ even more convincing.
In conclusion, Natural Order > Monarchy > Democracy. This book is in my opinion extremely important, not just to economists, historians, and defenders of liberty, but anyone really. A bonus is that Hoppe's prose is compact yet lucid, so it's not inaccessible to the average reader.
78 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Gene Balfour
5.0 out of 5 stars Monarchy trumps democracy
Reviewed in Canada on September 15, 2016
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The best book that I have every rear on the reason why democracy has failed and why monarchy is a better option.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars praiseworthy
Reviewed in India on December 28, 2015
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to the expectation
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S Smyth
5.0 out of 5 stars Democracy: caveat emptor :-).
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2007
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I liked this clearly writtten book with its novel viewpoint and analysis about the perils of government which is not limited in its scope and is firmly believed to be acting for the good by way of democracy. It occurred to me after reading chapter 1 that the current situation in Burma is simply the Junta exercising its high time preference to leapfrog the democratic process and go straight to the logical consequences of contemporary democracy. This would be a valuable book for the Burmese pro-democracy leadership to read, so that they might not repeat the mistakes of the world's most recently liberated states.

The conclusion that the state should be replaced by insurance companies and contracts is reasonable, and does currently work in certain classes of international business activity to circumvent the complications and delays of inter-state law, but I suspect--if computer security is anything to judge by--security and sophisticated scare-mongering would become a dominant preoccupation and divert capital from more productive activity.

The state as a monopoly is democratically granted its temporary monopoly, and although any constitution is simply a piece of paper which may be capable of abuse by interpretation and manipulation, it is up to the electorate to exercise good judgement in their electoral choices. Which is another good reason for many to read this book at this juncture in time. Furthermore--as a crude metaphor--just because a metal ladder doesn't specify that it should not be leaned against overhead electricity cables, sufficient 'a priori' knowledge should avoid this from happening instead of having to legislate for the banning of metal ladders and pursue claims for damage or death through the courts and seek compensation by way of insurance.
21 people found this helpful
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Henning Gloege
5.0 out of 5 stars SCHOLARSHIP AT ITS BEST
Reviewed in Germany on July 11, 2002
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This is one of the truly great works that make reading books worthwhile. Every once in a while it happens that true scholarship is translated into a literary format, and this is one of them. If you have even the slightest interest in classical liberalism, the vices of democracy, and the possible cures to it, then you should invest your time, money and effort into this book. It is not easy to read, and it is not supposed to be, but the effort is more than worth it. Economics is used as a tool to analyse the advantages and shortcomings of various systems of 'governance'/order.
At their best, books are supposed to teach us, even enlighten us, but they rarely do. Most of the time they barely entertain, or divert us. Sometimes repeating things that we have already seen or read or heard somehwere else in a different form a hundred times before. Not this book. It challenges and educates. Get it!
8 people found this helpful
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Yokena
5.0 out of 5 stars Democracy -- for other countries, ok?
Reviewed in Canada on September 6, 2015
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The truth about democracy is well exposed in this excellent book.
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