Literature review

Citation

Rankin, A. (2005), "Literature review", European Business Review, Vol. 17 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.2005.05417cab.004

Literature review

Liberal fundamentalism?

Purpose – To present a summary – and an interpretation – of a new collection of essays seeking to redefine Liberalism in Britain.Design/methodology/approach – This is a political critique.Findings – Finds that the book resembles an Evangelical tract more than a political discourse at times, because it takes the efficiency of the market as a “given”. It assumes that state institutions are inherently bureaucratic and centralised, whereas private organisations are well ordered and streamlined. It reflects the growing disconnectedness of the political class with the citizens they supposedly serve.Originality/value – Of value to those interested in Liberalism in British politics.

Keywords: Politics, United Kingdom

Paul Marshall and David Laws (Editors), The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism (Profile Books, London, 2004). ISBN 1 86197 797 2

The tradition of economic liberalism is the thread uniting this collection of essays. Contributors to The Orange Book share the belief that Liberal politics in Britain have, over the past half-century in particular, neglected or overlooked the principles of free-market economics. These principles, combined with the idea of codified rights and the belief in individual freedom under the rule of law, are the foundations of liberalism. However in their wish to occupy the centre ground of British politics, and pick up protest votes, the Liberal Party has allied itself with a centralised vision of the welfare state, and stressed the mixed economy at the expense of “market solutions”. This trend was accentuated, from the 1980s onwards, with the alliance between the Liberals and the Social Democratic Party (a break-away from Labour) and the two parties’ subsequent merger in 1989, when they became the Liberal Democrats.

It is understandable that British Liberals should seek a more coherent identity, now that their party has grown substantially in its political appeal and has the serious possibility of influencing events. It is understandable too that the party’s growth – largely through disillusionment with Blairism and the Conservative Party’s continuing disarray – has tempted its activist to revisit the golden age of classical liberalism. At that time, to be “liberal” involved a somewhat mechanistic belief in inevitable “progress”, coupled with a reverence for the market that bordered on religious devotion.

The Orange Book itself resembles an Evangelical tract more than a political discourse at times, because it takes the efficiency of the market as a “given”, much as Evangelicals take their version of the Gospel. There is a point beyond which questions cannot be asked, and beyond which empirical evidence gives way to ideological certainty. This is ironic for a philosophy that claims to be a continuation of the Enlightenment, of the principles of which, in Diderot’s words, was that “everything must be examined, everything must be called into question”. But The Orange Book assumes that state institutions are inherently bureaucratic and centralised, whereas private organisations are well ordered and streamlined. This conflicts with observable truths. I write this review on a day when the opening of a furniture “megastore” in North London has led to a murderous stampede and in a country where privatisation of the railways has brought expensive chaos – and further layers of bureaucracy.

The incompetence of the National Health Service, which is another of the book’s unquestioned “givens”, is largely a myth of the chattering classes. In reality, the system is unrivalled, provides excellent and comprehensive care and is envied by people in other countries. I know of Americans in particular who have chosen to live in Britain because of the NHS, and I know of many horror stories involving private health care, including neglect, lack of equipment and unnecessary operations for commercial gain. Yet The Orange Book proposes to replace socialised medicine with private insurance, for ideological rather than pragmatic reasons. Corporations are rarely more efficient, or more responsive, than state institutions, because they put profit before responding to real human need. Small and medium sized businesses and co-operatives are more flexible, however, but these are excluded from the debate. That is the ultimate tragedy of the book, as the case for decentralisation of private and state institutions, is a powerful one, which Liberals could usefully take up. This would mean redressing the balance from large corporations towards more human scale enterprises, and making public services more locally and democratically accountable. The Orange Book touches on political decentralisation, but its proposed “regional assemblies”, which lack strong cultural roots, merely add to the bureaucratic malaise.

One of the main problems with The Orange Book is that it reflects the growing disconnectedness of the political class with the citizens they supposedly serve. The increasing insulation of parliamentarians and policy researchers is creating a culture of ideological rigidity that is remote from human experience. It would be a pity if the Liberal Party went down this path at a time when its dream of “breaking the mould” of British politics is closer to reality than it has been in several generations.

Aidan RankinEditor, New European