Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book represents a small selection–the principle of selection being their availability in English–of the essays on political economy of Bertrand de Jouvenel. He practiced many professions in his richly productive life: reporter, soldier, diplomatic correspondent, novelist, historian, political scientist, economist, and public servant. The book provides a masterful exploration of the problem of conceptualizing the Good under modern conditions, in a language that borrows from both economics and political science. It is concerned with a variety of problems for which political economy supplies useful insights: international monetary reform; democracy in former colonies; Soviet economic planning; and others. The book displays an aspect of de Jouvenel's work already present in the 1950s, and that grew more important during the last two decades of his life.