Abstract
A basic premise of the limited/open access orders framework of North, Wallis, Webb and Weingast is a variant of the Hayek–Friedman hypothesis that economic and political freedom sustain each other. Keys to this framework are the specific “doorstep” conditions that enable a transition from limited to open access, which the authors draw from the historical experience of Britain, France and the United States. This essay analyzes the transition process of Imperial Germany to reveal that maintaining economic competition did not depend on democracy and that the middle classes became stakeholders in authoritarianism. It then explores the specific challenges posed by this large, mature limited access order as it was integrated into an international system sustained by a declining liberal hegemon, Great Britain. The refinements of the framework suggested by the case of Imperial Germany allow for a better understanding of some of the parallel transition processes in present-day China and its evolving relationship to both the United States and the current international order.
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Notes
This conclusion is supported by empirical tests of the Friedman-Hayek hypothesis. For example, in the country case studies examined by Lawson and Clark (2010)—Chile, Israel, Venezuela, Taiwan, and Singapore—Singapore and Taiwan were exceptions: “The experiences of these two countries show that economic liberalism can be maintained with or without political liberalism. While it might be comforting to believe that economic liberalism leads toward greater political liberalism, examples like Singapore perhaps suggest otherwise.” (237).
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Acknowledgments
This is a revised version of a paper first presented at the workshop “Germany’s Catch-Up Development, from Limited to Open Access to Political and Economic Organizations and Competition” held at the Walter Eucken Institute in Freiburg im Breisgau, 28 February–1 March 2014. I would like to thank the participants of that workshop for much valuable feedback, especially Jan Schnellenbach and Steven Webb, who both offered valuable constructive criticism. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Thyssen Foundation for funding the travel and lodging arrangements that enabled this workshop and to the Walter Eucken Institute for hosting it. Two anonymous reviewers and the editorial staff of CPE gave many valuable suggestions for improving the manuscript prior to publication for which I am very grateful.
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Grimmer-Solem, E. The mature limited access order at the doorstep: Imperial Germany and contemporary China in transition. Const Polit Econ 26, 103–120 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-014-9169-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-014-9169-8
Keywords
- Development
- Transition
- Limited/open access order
- Hayek–Friedman hypothesis
- International order
- Germany
- China