Against the Dead Hand: The Uncertain Struggle for Global Capitalism

"Informed, lively, and challenging, Brink Lindseys book illuminates the tough road ahead in the fight for free markets and against the dead hand of the past. I have benefited greatly from reading this book and so can everyone who cares about freedom." —George P. Shultz, Former U.S. Secretary of State

"There are few higher callings than exposing the antiglobalization movement for what it really is: an enemy not just of clear thinking but also of economic progress. Brink Lindsey rises to this task manfully. In this eloquently written and powerfully argued book, he shows that, far from being complete, the current wave of globalization has just begun. And to charges that globalization is responsible for the problems of much of the developing world, he explains that the real blame lies with years of failed experiments with big government and closed borders. Read this book if you want to understand the most important debate of our time." —Adrian Wooldridge, Coauthor, A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization

"In this fascinating and wide-ranging book, Brink Lindsey destroys two dangerous myths: that trade is bad for the poor and that globalization is inevitable. From the Thai countryside to the streets of New Delhi, he shows how todays economic problems spring from choices made decades ago, when the worlds governing classes were enamored of the gospel of centralization and control. Only if we turn away from that Industrial Counterrevolution, he argues, will we find our way toward international peace, prosperity, and progress." —Virginia Postrel, Author, The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress

"Despite globalization, recent years have been filled with cruel disappointments for many of the worlds poor in developing and formerly communist countries. Brink Lindsey insightfully identifies the formidable obstacles that block their progress. In particular, he shows that the failure to build adequate legal institutions that define and protect property rights is of critical importance." —Hernando de Soto, Author, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else

One of this book's great virtues is its broad sense of historical perspective. Lindsey describes the current trend of globalization not simply as an affirmative triumph of market ideology, but as an outgrowth of the collapse of the great collectivist ideologies of the past century: communism, fascism, and even FDR-style managed capitalism. In other words, free markets advanced primarily because the state receded -- not because political leaders had converted to some capitalist orthodoxy.

Yet the collapse of state economic controls was far from total. Even though faith in central planning and top-down economic control has waned in recent years, the "dead hand" of the collectivist past -- the "accumulated institutions, mindsets, and vested interests of state-dominated economic development" -- still exerts a powerful influence on world affairs. Burdened as it is by the dead hand of the state, Lindsey shows how globalization is neither as widespread as its critics claim nor as firmly entrenched as its champions believe.

The book concludes with a discussion of the events of 9/11 that draws connections between the current terrorist threat and the broader themes explored in the book. Specifically, Lindsey explores the ideological camaraderie evidenced by the more radical elements of the anti-globalization movement -- remnants of what he terms the "Industrial Counterrevolution" -- and the anti-modernist thought embodied in radical Islam. He convincingly argues that while many of globalization's critics sell themselves as friends of the poor, they are in fact enemies of prosperity. Feeling insecure and left behind by the modern world, they seek to stop it -- a goal they must not be allowed to achieve.

Whether you're a fan of free markets or not, this book is worth your time. It's not a sugar-coated view of globalization, nor does it reject the critical role that governments have to play as the world grows closer together. It is, rather, an unflinchingly clear description of where we've been on the road to modernity and the perils that yet lie before us. I highly recommend it.


Most Comprehensive, Passionate Case For Free Trade Available   April 14, 2002
Michael D. Mallinger (Woodbridge, VA USA)
26 out of 28 found this review helpful

Of all the books on the politics of international trade, this one stands out because it offers a big picture view of how the collapse of communism changed everything. Unlike other international economists and trade scholars, Brink Lindsey begins from the premise that, because critics of open trade lost the war of ideas, it is only a matter of time before liberal civil society flourishes. His book details problems caused by lingering flawed ideas that still exist - particularly the defense of non-tariff barriers to trade - and how those problems can be overcome.

Lindsey's point is that, because the global movement toward market liberalism is occurring amid the remnants of the failed economic apparatus that opposed it, its journey continues to be marked by skirmishes with proponents of the discredited system. The leaders of that system - which Lindsey calls the "Dead Hand" - are the root of much of the global poverty witnessed today because of their long-standing efforts to block the spread of reliable security for property rights and the rule of law. They prevent people in poor nations from making long-term investments and obtaining the windfall gains of congregating in economic spheres in which they hold a comparative advantage.

The Dead Hand's fatal mistake was its failure to understand the concept of economic uncertainty. Its belief that a small set of central planners could bring together all of the information necessary to make sound decisions to govern people's lives stifled the creative process throughout much of the less-developed world. People victimized by the notion that their leaders should run their society are now rejecting that system. As Lindsey states, "Hostility to markets remains, and remains formidable, but only as a force of reaction."

He bases his argument on the fact that open trade produces sustained, long run economic growth. The success of Richard Cobden and John Bright's Anti-Corn Law League in securing free trade in staple food products in nineteenth century Great Britain was the world's first step toward building an international economic framework that enables poor people to obtain the products they need. Cobden and Bright's vision took hold over the last few decades as trade barriers for goods, services, and capital began to fall around the globe. Over time, a larger and larger share of domestic economic activity was exposed to foreign competition, creating net benefits for consumers in every nation involved. The evolution of legal institutions in many nations facilitated the development of markets in which the costs of finding trading partners, setting the terms of trade, and enforcing agreements were reduced. This increased productivity in most sectors of these nations and raised living standards.

Lindsey believes that, historically, leaders who rejected the benefits free trade offers tended to resort to warfare to obtain wealth. Politicians who actively stifle the development of new products and innovations cannot stay in power without somehow placating the desires of their constituents. Lindsey endorses Noble Laureate Friedrich Hayek's view that dictatorship is the natural result of efforts to adopt socialism on a large scale. Because drastic measures are necessary to spur people to engage in productive activities when incentives for doing so are removed, only the most ruthless dictators can perpetuate socialism's existence over time.

In a way, the Dead Hand is a refusal by intellectuals in wealthy nations to admit that Hayek is correct. Until they do, corrupt leaders in less-developed nations will continue to pursue socialism under the rubric of "self-sufficiency" or "community-based growth" and stifle their people's enormous creative potential.

The global economic instability witnessed today is not the result of the international spread of capitalism, but rather, of the international collapse of socialism. The new problem for those who advocate market competition is that the Dead Hand has convinced many people that the opposite is true - that the only cure to the alleged problems of global capitalism is global socialism. Combating this grossly distorted worldview will take time. Because of this, stability in the global economic order is still many years away.

My only criticism of Lindsey is that he chooses not to include a detailed discussion of rent seeking. In the debate over trade, it is important for people to understand that certain companies and industries utilize the legal apparatus to stifle their competition. They frequently disguise their efforts as promotion of "market-based mechanisms." Explaining why this problem has the same effects as non-tariff barriers to trade is key to shedding light on much of what takes place on the K Street corridor today.

Overall, Lindsey does an exceptional job detailing why the intellectual war over trade has ended and what will occur as a result. His words will serve to inspire the courageous trade ministers who rejected then-President Clinton's demands for increased protectionism during the WTO's failed summit in Seattle in 1999. More importantly, his advice to young defenders of free trade - to keep pummeling away at their critics - will only accelerate the onset of the global liberal economic order.


The Real Deal on Globalization   March 16, 2002
25 out of 28 found this review helpful

The popular perception of globalization portrays political leaders fighting against corporations and unfettered financial markets being manipulated by greedy speculators using lightening fast electrified capital. According to Brink Lindsey, author of "Against the Dead Hand - The Uncertain Struggle for Global Capitalism", this formulation has the main direction of causation backwards.

The failures of central planning have led governments groping for market reforms as a pragmatic response to the failures of big government.

The trend toward what we now refer to as "globalization" was interrupted during the nineteenth century by what the author calls the "Industrial Counterrevolution". World leaders, impressed by the productivity and efficiency of big business, began to apply the same techniques as those used in business. Merged with these techniques were different theories of collectivism which arose as a result of the apparent chaos of the marketplace.

Though the U.S. never plunged headlong into state control, political leaders of both parties were swept up by its own version of the Industrial Counterrevolution, the Progressive movement.

We now have over a century of experimentation in various social and economic policies in several countries. The evidence shows free market principles produce better results, but market proponents should not confuse a change in trend with victory in the battle of ideas. Those general principles - competition, choice, limited government, private property, sound currency, free trade - are now seeping deeper into more areas of society that had been impervious to them. The change could be seen in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. recently when the Court took up the constitutionality of school vouchers. On one side were minority parents demanding educational choice who were pitted against public school teachers protecting the status quo.

Educational choice is one reminder that market proponents do not have a free ride. Laments Lindsey: "The defunct ideas of centralized control exert a waning but still-formidable influence on the shape of the world economy... The invisible hand of markets may be on the rise, but the dead hand of the old collectivist dream still exerts a powerful influence."

A belief in market economics is not simply the hope for the absence of government. Among government's most important responsibilities is maintenance of a legal order that protects property and enforces contracts to exchange that property.
Mr. Lindsey's entry is an easy reading but serious antidote to the double dose of hype from pro-globalization cheerleaders and anti-globalization protesters. I recommend it.


A Realistic Look at Globalization   January 16, 2002
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

This is a terrific book. So much of what has been written about globalization so far has been either dry or full of hyperbole (both for and against it). "Against the Dead Hand" explains the world as it really is in a way that was a pleasure to read. The book combines history, first-person reporting, and clear analysis. Lindsey begins by telling the story of the first round of globalization that ended with World War I. In many important ways the world was more globalized a hundred years ago than it is even today, but the whole system fell apart in the face of anti-market ideologies and rising nationalism. The warning I took from this section is that there is nothing inevitable about globalization today. It can all fall apart again, plunging us back into the same kind of political and economic darkness that plagued the world for decades after 1914. Lindsey explains convincingly that globalization has returned not because of some grand vision of free-market thinkers but because socilaism proved to be such a failure. He points out that some of the great "reformers" in recent years have been communists and socialists themselves. The most important contribution of the book, in my view, is to remind us of how far we still are from a world were free markets and free trade predominate. The "dead hand" of the old collectivist systems still dominates economic life in most countries. Countries such as Argentina are still struggling against runaway government spending and corrupt legal and political systems. In one of my favorite passages, Lindsey describes a visit he made to a village in India where the villagers were assembling their own cars from kits. Import duties and regulations make it cheaper in India to build your own car! If you want to understand what is going on in the world today, why some nations are making progress and why others seem to stumble from one crisis to the next, "Against the Dead Hand" provides compelling answers. This book is realistic but in the end hopeful that we are headed to a better place. I highly recommend it!


superb historical perspective   February 25, 2002
Bruce Egert (Hackensack, NJ United States)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

just the kind of book i like--one that gives me an enormous wealth of historical information while explaining, in very readable terms, the economic forces that were and are in conflict with one another. my only criticism is that the book does not take social and psychological factors into enough account in describing the reasons for the various economic decisions. perhaps this excellent book should not take on such a role, but the reader ought to be cognizant of the other, non-economic reasons that play a major role in moving world leaders towards their economic policies. nevertheless, i strongly and highly recommend this superb book.