The Political Economy of Nation Building

The World's Unfinished Business

Mack Ott

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781138516656
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351477277
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: International Relations
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Donor nations may advise and counsel, but the creation of a liberal nation state falls to its own people. They must create laws, exercise their liberties, provide freedom of belief and expression, and protect individual property rights. No nation becomes or remains free unless its people build, use, and defend these institutions, and protect them with understanding, vigilance, and effort. The Political Economy of Nation Building reviews the effects of political structures on the evolution and stability of liberalism in developing nations and considers the outlook for their success.Discussing the origins and applications of the modern liberal state from an explicitly Anglo- and Euro-centric view, Mack Ott addresses the origins of the rule of law and innovations that led to the rise of a market economy, separation of faith and governance, and the autonomy of finance - key components of the liberal state. He then addresses the emergence of sustained economic growth, a bridge between the liberal infrastructure and its application during the construction of a nation.Ott examines budget policy and laws, and accurate and timely economic and financial statistical reporting that assure donors that the recipient government is operating within the constraints of law. He addresses the beneficial effects of privatization of state-owned industry, examines the costs and benefits of nurturing non-governmental associations, and concludes with a review of transparent fiscal and monetary policies and the importance of non-interference in financial markets by the state.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half title
• title
• copy
• List of Tables and Figures
• Foreword by James Lyon
• Preface
• Prologue: Origins of the Liberal Nation-State
• 1 The Rule of Law, the Evolution of the Common Law, and King in Parliament
• 2 The Decline of Feudalism and the Rise of Free Labor, Private Property, and the Market
• 3 Separation of Faith and Governance, the Rise of Literacy, and the Emergence of Civil Society
• 4 The Autonomy of Credit and Finance
• 5 The Complex Quest for Economic Growth
• 6 Steps and Missteps in Nation Building
• 7 The Rule of Law and Matters of Good Governance
• 8 Privatization and the Expansion of the Middle Class
• 9 Nurturing Civil Society and Tolerance
• 10 Money, Credit, and Transactions—Enabling Financial Development
• 11 Economic Growth and Inequality
• Epilogue: Nation Building and the Security of Freedom
• Selected Bibliography
• Illustration Credits
• Index