Category Archives: Politics

The slow cultural suicide of Europe

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on June 19, 2011

The Dutch ex-politician and right-wing intellectual Frits Bolkestein, no stranger to defying political taboos, published a remarkable article in the Wall Street Journal called “How Europe Lost Faith in Its Own Civilization.” He is not the first person to wonder … Continue reading →

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Strict contractarianism or anarchist conventionalism

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on June 7, 2011

The June 2011 issue of Economic Affairs features my review of Anthony de Jasay’s most recent collection of articles, Political Philosophy, Clearly: Essays on Freedom and Fairness, Property and Equalities. As in all his works, in this book Anthony de … Continue reading →

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Gustave Le Bon: secular reactionary

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on May 17, 2011

Gustave Le Bon (1841- 1931) is among the most undeservedly neglected modern social writers. It is not hard to see why this is the case. Gustave Le Bon was not a religious man but he was skeptical of top-down social … Continue reading →

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The ethics of debt default

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on April 12, 2011

One of James Buchanan’s most interesting papers is The Ethics of Debt Default (1987), first published in the book Deficits (a collection of public choice articles about public debt and debt financing), edited by James M. Buchanan, Charles Kershaw Rowley, … Continue reading →

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The tyranny of guilt and the politics of dissolution

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on March 30, 2011

Pascal Brucker’s The Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism is a passionate indictment of the guilt-ridden and self-loathing culture that dominates contemporary Western Europe, and his own country, France, in particular. In the chapter Listen to My Suffering, … Continue reading →

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