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http://www.thefederalist.eu/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1463%3Ala-riflessione-federalista-in-friedrich-von-hayek&lang=en
« Friedrich von Hayek expounded his internationalist theory in his essay “The Economic Conditions of Interstate Federalism”, in chapter XII of his collection of writings Individualism and Economic Order, and in “The Prospects of International Order”, a chapter of his book The Road to Serfdom. Some elements that allow us to view von Hayek as a supporter of European unity can also be found in his book Denationalisation of Money, even though the federalist issue did not emerge clearly in this work; this latter book may actually be regarded as von Hayek’s contribution to the debate on the introduction of a single European currency that unfolded in the 1970s and 1980s.
What distinguished the international order presented by von Hayek was, essentially, the fact that it was based on the objective of limiting state intervention in the economy and preventing distortions of free trade and competition deriving from public action. He thus supported the idea of creating a supranational government, seeing it as a way of limiting the power of the nation-states, and believed that it should be an authority organised according to strict federal principles.
“The Economic Conditions of Interstate Federalism”.
This essay was first published in 1939, in the scientific journal New Commonwealth Quarter ; it was subsequently included, as the last chapter, in Individualism and Economic Order. It illustrates the need to get rid of economic barriers between states in order to achieve the objective of founding a federation: an “interstate federation that would do away with the impediments as to the movement of men, goods and capital between the states and would render possible the creation of common rules of law, a uniform monetary system, and common control of communications.”
While von Hayek recognised that the main objectives of federalism are internal peace between the federation’s member states and harmonious relations between the states and the federal authority, he nevertheless believed that a simple political union would not be sufficient to ensure an enduring federation, and therefore that an economic union should also be created, together with a common foreign and defence policy.
The federal system, as conceived by von Hayek, helps to prevent national governments from intervening in the economy, and in particular from introducing protectionist policies that distort free trade and competition. […]
He was thus led to declare that “the abrogation of national sovereignties and the creation of an effective international order of law is a necessary complement and the logical consummation of the liberal program” […]
Furthermore, in von Hayek’s view the liberals’ support for nationalism, between the end of nineteenth century and the dawn of the First World War, constituted their greatest political and intellectual mistake. In Hayekian thought, liberalism and nationalism are completely incompatible and it is fundamental to prevent them from being combined. Liberalism serves man understood as an individual, whereas nationalism sets out to subordinate the individual to a supposed collective interest. » -Francesco Violi, “Federalist thought in Friedrich von Hayek”, The Federalist, Year LVII, 2015, Single Issue, Page 159.
« Friedrich von Hayek expounded his internationalist theory in his essay “The Economic Conditions of Interstate Federalism”, in chapter XII of his collection of writings Individualism and Economic Order, and in “The Prospects of International Order”, a chapter of his book The Road to Serfdom. Some elements that allow us to view von Hayek as a supporter of European unity can also be found in his book Denationalisation of Money, even though the federalist issue did not emerge clearly in this work; this latter book may actually be regarded as von Hayek’s contribution to the debate on the introduction of a single European currency that unfolded in the 1970s and 1980s.
What distinguished the international order presented by von Hayek was, essentially, the fact that it was based on the objective of limiting state intervention in the economy and preventing distortions of free trade and competition deriving from public action. He thus supported the idea of creating a supranational government, seeing it as a way of limiting the power of the nation-states, and believed that it should be an authority organised according to strict federal principles.
“The Economic Conditions of Interstate Federalism”.
This essay was first published in 1939, in the scientific journal New Commonwealth Quarter ; it was subsequently included, as the last chapter, in Individualism and Economic Order. It illustrates the need to get rid of economic barriers between states in order to achieve the objective of founding a federation: an “interstate federation that would do away with the impediments as to the movement of men, goods and capital between the states and would render possible the creation of common rules of law, a uniform monetary system, and common control of communications.”
While von Hayek recognised that the main objectives of federalism are internal peace between the federation’s member states and harmonious relations between the states and the federal authority, he nevertheless believed that a simple political union would not be sufficient to ensure an enduring federation, and therefore that an economic union should also be created, together with a common foreign and defence policy.
The federal system, as conceived by von Hayek, helps to prevent national governments from intervening in the economy, and in particular from introducing protectionist policies that distort free trade and competition. […]
He was thus led to declare that “the abrogation of national sovereignties and the creation of an effective international order of law is a necessary complement and the logical consummation of the liberal program” […]
Furthermore, in von Hayek’s view the liberals’ support for nationalism, between the end of nineteenth century and the dawn of the First World War, constituted their greatest political and intellectual mistake. In Hayekian thought, liberalism and nationalism are completely incompatible and it is fundamental to prevent them from being combined. Liberalism serves man understood as an individual, whereas nationalism sets out to subordinate the individual to a supposed collective interest. » -Francesco Violi, “Federalist thought in Friedrich von Hayek”, The Federalist, Year LVII, 2015, Single Issue, Page 159.
