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The Constitution of Liberty

Author	Friedrich Hayek
Language	English
Subject	Politics, Economics
Publisher	University of Chicago Press (US)
Publication date	1960
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print
Pages	576
ISBN	0-226-32084-7

The Constitution of Liberty is a book originally publised in 1960 by Austrian economist and Nobel Prize recipient Friedrich A. Hayek. It is an interpretation of civilization as being made possible by the fundamental principles of liberty, which the author presents as prerequisites for wealth and growth, rather than the other way around. A postscript entitled "Why I Am Not A Conservative", in which he outlines the difference between conservatism and liberalism, and why he identifies as a member of the latter but not former, was later added to the book.

Hayek dedicated the book to "the unknown civilization that is growing in America".

Table of Contents

Part I – The Value of Freedom
1. Liberty and Liberties
2. The Creative Powers of a Free Civilization
3. The Common Sense of Progress
4. Freedom, Reason, and Tradition
5. Responsibility and Freedom
6. Equality, Value, and Merit
7. Majority Rule
8. Employment and Independence

Part II – Freedom and the Law
9. Coercion and the State
10. Law, Commands, and Order
11. The Origins of the Rule of Law
12. The American Contribution: Constitutionalism
13. Liberalism and Administration: The Rechtsstaat
14. The Safeguards of Individual Liberty
15. Economic Policy and the Rule of Law
16. The Decline of the Law

Part III – Freedom in the Welfare State
17. The Decline of Socialism and the Rise of the Welfare State
18. Labor Unions and Employment
19. Social Security
20. Taxation and Redistribution
21. The Monetary Framework
22. Housing and Town Planning
23. Agriculture and Natural Resources
24. Education and Research

Postscript: Why I am Not a Conservative

Main ideas

Hayek's fundamental concern throughout the book is with how to maximize individual freedom. To this end, he spends the bulk of the book identifying the social institutions that he believes most effectively achieve the goal of liberty. He argues for a system of free markets with well-defined private property rights, governed by a rule of law in which laws are prospective, i.e. known beforehand by the public, equally enforced, abstractly stated, and stable.

The meaning of freedom

Placing "freedom" at the center of his ideology, Hayek spends much of the first chapter describing precisely what it is he means by "freedom". To him, freedom is summarily described as "independence of the arbitrary will of another", or more precisely "the possibility of a person's acting according to his own decisions and plans" rather than "subject to the will of another, who by arbitrary decision could coerce him to act or not act in specific ways". He notes that by this definition freedom has to do only with social relations, and nothing to do with the physical choices available to the individual: "Whether [the individual] is free or not does not depend on the range of choices but on whether he can expect to shape his course of action in accordance with his intentions". He provides an example of a rock climber who has only one way down; to Hayek, "his life is unquestionably free, though we would hardly say he has any choice", and if he were to fall into a crevasse, it would be nonsensical to describe him as "deprived of liberty" or "being held captive".

Hayek readily admits that this definition of "freedom" is a purely negative concept. To him, freedom "becomes positive only through what we make of it...it does not assure us of any particular opportunities, but leaves it to us to decide what use we shall make of the circumstances in which we find ourselves".

Hayek acknowledges that the only way to prevent coercion is by some form of coercion itself. This power, in modern society, is given to a state monopoly (through a police force, for example). He argues that the principle of "coercion according to known rules", in which the state constructs general rules known to the population, is the principle by which freedom is maximized. Following this principle, individuals can incorporate the rules into their decisions on how to pursue their own ends.

"Freedom" versus "political freedom"

Hayek differentiates "freedom" from the colloquially used "political freedom", which describes the ability of individuals to dictate the actions of their government, for example by voting for representatives. He notes that an individual who is free to behave exactly as he chooses, that is, free from the coercion of other people, may have no say in collective government decisions. On the other hand, a person who votes for a tyrant or contracts himself into slavery has no freedom in the individual sense.

Why freedom is desirable

Hayek notes that freedom "does not mean all things good"; freedom may mean "freedom to starve, freedom to make costly mistakes, or to run mortal risks". He acknowledges that many people may be willing to accept restrictions to freedom in order to achieve other benefits, like safety, wealth, or order.

Influence

The book has had a significant influence on policymakers, particularly within the Reagan administration and Thatcher government. Francis Fukuyama, writing in The New York Times, claims that Hayek's view that government-sponsored programs often produce unintended negative consequences formed the "intellectual underpinning" of the Reagan-Thatcher revolution of the 1980s and '90s. In a well-known story, Margaret Thatcher interrupted the discussion at a British Conservative Party policy meeting by banging The Constitution of Liberty on the table and proclaiming "This is what we believe".

Francis Fukuyama, writing in The New York Times, notes that many of the ideas in The Constitution of Liberty have become broadly accepted by economists, including that rent control reduces the supply of housing, that labor unions create a privileged labor sector at the expense of the non-unionized, and that agricultural subsidies lower the general welfare.

Reception

The Constitution of Liberty was placed 9th on the list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the twentieth century compiled by the biweekly conservative magazine National Review.

Irving Kristol, writing in Commentary, stated that the book is "noble in its proportions, often profound in its insight, learned in its commentary, and usefully provocative in its argument."