ABSTRACT
Economic power remains highly concentrated and economic democracy, although on the agenda, is fragmentary and for the future. The role of the state has increased inexorably during the twentieth century, notwithstanding the rediscovery of economic liberalism in the 1980s. The combined absence of political and economic democracy, in a context of full employment and command planning, has resulted in lack of dynamism, economic inefficiency and labour indiscipline. The argument that economic independence, in the sense of an absence of economic dependence on the state, is also a necessary foundation for political freedom has become increasingly convincing in the light of historical experience. Economic planning, however, is normally associated with the statist countries. The rapid rate of economic development in the Soviet Union during the 1930s is evidence of the formidable ability of its centralized command planning system to mobilize and concentrate resources. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
