Property and Freedom"A superb book about a topic that should be front and center in the American political debate" (National Review), from the acclaimed Harvard scholar and historian of the Russian Revolution An exploration of a wide range of national and political systems to demonstrate persuasively that private ownership has served over the centuries to limit the power of the state and enable democratic institutions to evolve and thrive in the Western world. Beginning with Greece and Rome, where the concept of private property as we understand it first developed, Richard Pipes then shows us how, in the late medieval period, the idea matured with the expansion of commerce and the rise of cities. He contrasts England, a country where property rights and parliamentary government advanced hand-in-hand, with Russia, where restrictions on ownership have for centuries consistently abetted authoritarian regimes; finally he provides reflections on current and future trends in the United States. Property and Freedom is a brilliant contribution to political thought and an essential work on a subject of vital importance. |
Contents
THE INSTITUTION OF PROPERTY | 64 |
ENGLAND AND THE BIRTH | 121 |
Taxation | 133 |
The Tudors | 134 |
The early Stuarts | 136 |
The Commonwealth | 146 |
The Glorious Revolution | 149 |
Continental Europe | 151 |
PROPERTY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY | 209 |
Communism | 211 |
Fascism and National Socialism | 217 |
The welfare state | 225 |
Modern corporations and property | 233 |
Taxation | 236 |
The growing power of the state | 240 |
Environmental protection vs private ownership | 248 |
PATRIMONIAL RUSSIA | 159 |
PreMuscovite Russia | 161 |
Novgorod | 169 |
Muscovy | 172 |
The Russian city | 181 |
Rural Russia | 184 |
Peter the Great | 186 |
Catherine the Great | 190 |
The emancipation of serfs | 201 |
The rise of a moneyed economy | 205 |
Concluding remarks | 208 |
Forfeitures | 254 |
Entitlements | 256 |
Contracts | 260 |
Affirmative action in employment | 266 |
Affirmative action in higher education | 274 |
School busing | 278 |
Summing up | 279 |
PORTENTS | 282 |
References | 293 |
| 319 | |
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Common terms and phrases
affirmative action agriculture American ancient ancient Greece animals Aristotle assets authority behavior belongings boyars Cambridge century Chapter Charles cities citizens civil rights claims communism Communist concept confiscated constitutional Court crown democracy developed Douglass North dvoriane early economic eighteenth emergence England English equality erty estates Europe evolution feudal France freedom German historian History human Ibid idea income individual industrial institutions Ivan I Kalita Ivan III J. H. Hexter king labor landlords legislation liberty living London means medieval ment Middle modern monarchy Mongol Moscow nature nineteenth nobles Novgorod original owners ownership P. S. Atiyah parliament parliamentary patrimonial peasants percent political population possession primitive princes principle private property prop property in land property rights regime Richard Pipes Roman royal rule Russia serfdom serfs ship money social society taxation territory theory tion urban utopian votchina wealth welfare Western York