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Statism

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Statism (or Etatism) is a term that is used to describe:

Specific instances of state intervention in personal, social or economic matters.
A form of government or economic system that involves significant state intervention in personal, social or economic matters.

The term can be used loosely in a derogative sense to describe an instance in which a country or other political entity is more Statist than the user of the term believes is desirable (in the case of anarchists, this may include all of the world's countries). More rigorously, a specific area of policy within a country may be described as Statist, which would allow comparison with another country in which that area of policy is completely non-Statist. The term tends to be used most often with respect to economic policies. For instance, Merriam-Webster defines statism as a "concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government." Advocates of economic liberalism typically use the term "statism" to refer to any economy that does not conform to the standard of laissez-faire capitalism. "Statism" is also used to refer to specific policies in countries that would not be identified as statist overall (for example, the state monopoly on mail delivery in the United States).

1 Usage in relation to other concepts
2 Criticism and advocacy
3 See also
4 External links

Usage in relation to other concepts

Socialism is often described as Statist (e.g. in Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom and Ludwig von Mises' Omnipotent Government), and is described as such by Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto, although it is important to note that there are some schools of socialist thought that reject the idea of state control, such as libertarian socialism. Opponents of these schools (both amongst other socialists and amongsts free marketeers) usually argue that their stated objectives are not possible to achieve in practise without the imposition of force by a state to compell others to comply with them, but proponents strongly deny these criticisms. Collectivist systems that advocate forcing people to join and/or accept the decisions of the collectivist societal units are often described as Statist. It cannot be accurately applied to collectivist systems that propose communes which would operate on an entirely voluntary basis, such as those proposed by anarchists and some communists. An example of such a collective in the real world could be an Israeli Kibbutz. On another note, Fascist Italy openly espoused statism as its centerpiece, and it based its ideology around a positive conception of an absolute state to such a degree that the system of Italian Fascism was even accused of statolatry.

Criticism and advocacy

Opponents of statism usually argue that state intervention restricts individual freedom and thus is immoral. They also tend to reject statist economic models in favor of a more liberal economic policy because they believe decentralized economic activity at the level of individuals and corporations in a free market produces superior economic results. By way of contrast, supporters of statism argue that centralized economic planning produces greater economic benefits for everyone than free market economics (see also planned economy). Both theoretical arguments and historical examples are used by both sides in the debate. Historical examples of states operating planned economies, including many current and former communist states, are often the focus of such debate. Opponents of statism usually argue that Communist states have performed much worse than their free market contemporaries over the same time scale, even when starting from the same levels of economic development, that they failed to address the problem of poverty and that they created similar class divisions to those which exist in less statist countries. There are also those who defend the Communist states by arguing that their economic performance was superior to what could have been achieved by free markets in similar circumstances and that comparisons with free market states are unwarranted. Statism is often attacked on the basis of damage to personal freedom that it often entails, although some Statists argue that Statism provides more positive freedom than a market-oriented economy by giving some individuals (especially the poor) options and choices that would not have been available to them under a strictly capitalist system. In contrast, many opponents of statism, notably Friedrich Hayek, argue both that the loss of economic freedom leads to the loss of political freedoms, but also that economic freedoms are not inherently distinguishable from other personal freedoms. There are also many who believe that a limited degree of statism is beneficial, but only as long as it does not become excessive. The idea of a mixed economy and various middle-ground or third way ideas, such as the American School, are based on this view.