[.ca] Property and Freedom (ISBN 0375704477)

From Amazon.com:
Richard Pipes offers a vigorous defense of a fundamental freedom--private property--in this engaging mix of history, economics, and political theory. Western historians "take property for granted," complains the acclaimed scholar of Russian history (and author of the masterful The Russian Revolution). Pipes argues that a greater appreciation for this institution is necessary if liberty is to survive in the 21st century. "While property in some form is possible without liberty, the contrary is inconceivable," he says. Property rights give rise to the political and legal institutions that secure freedom. Their absence practically invites atrocity. The sinister regimes of Communist Russia and Nazi Germany were fiercely opposed to private property. Those regimes' "simultaneous violation of property rights and destruction of human lives," he emphasizes, "were not mere coincidences." While the bulk of the book compares England and Russia, showing how varying attitudes toward private property led these two nations in totally different directions, the final section examines the broad theme of property rights in the late 20th century--a period when they have come under assault, and have been made increasingly conditional, by the growing strength of the welfare state. Pipes concludes with a broadside against New Deal and Great Society programs. Although liberal readers may bristle, none can deny that Property and Freedom is the product of a great mind tackling a big theme with great enthusiasm. --John J. Miller

The Central Role of Property in Society:
In this book, Richard Pipes examines the role of property in the cause of human freedom from every angle. One, Pipes discusses ideologies of property: what classical thinkers thought about property, what later Europeans thought, especially the philosophes and utopians of the early modern era, and so on. Two, Pipes discusses the anthropology of property. I consider this chapter to be the most valuable in the book because I've never seen a discussion like this anywhere as it relates to property rights and political theory. I have studied anthropology and sociobiology, so the terminology and the science is familiar, but the application is different. Pipes notes that property is universal; land is not always considered property, but all peoples have things which are considered such, and even when communist regimes outlawed property, theft became rampant. This was human nature revolting against ideology. He notes that human beings know property intrinsically; parents have to teach their children to share, not to covet. He notes that other primates, and many nonprimates, have property, and that across species females tend to find propertyless males unattractive. There has never been a society without property, and the contrast between reality and the mythical visions of propertyless societies is clear. Three, Pipes discusses and compares the historical development of property rights in England and Russia, the latter being his field of expertise. Whereas secure property rights gave English landowners leverage against the monarchy, in patrimonial Russia there was nothing to check Tsarist absolutism. The submission of the country to Soviet totalitarianism and the current move toward "managed democracy" in Vladimir Putin's Russia have been natural consequences of Russia's heritage. (Pipes has an article in a recent issue of Foreign Affairs about popular acceptance of authoritarianism in modern Russia that is very insightful as to the current situation.) Four, Pipes discusses the politics of property. He argues that, while property rights were essential to the foundation of democracy, democracy can become a threat to property rights as people begin to realize that they can regulate the property of others and redistribute some of it to themselves through the electoral system. Unfortunately, the last few decades of Western history seem to bear this out. Overall, I would suggest this book for anyone seeking to understand the role and importance of property in the development and freedom of human societies.

Property and Freedom: Historical Perspective:
Richard Pipes is one of the leading academic authorities on Russian and Soviet history. He starts this book by admitting that its subject matter is outside his area of special expertise. Despite this discalimer, he has produced a useful and interesting work on the relationship between property rights and freedom. Pipes' approach draws on his expertise as a historian. He describes the historical development of the idea of property rights with particular emphasis on the contrasting experiences of England and Russia. He demonstrates that the development of political and economic freedom in England is directly linked to the early establishment of property rights in that country while the total lack of freedom in Russia (prior to 1991 and excluding the brief 1905-1917 period) is equally linked to the total lack of property rights there. This book is not a complete answer to the very broad question of how property and freedom are related. It does, however, make a valuable contribution from the historical perspective. To more fully understand this question, I recommend the following: For an economic perspective: Mancur Olsen, Power and Prosperity; for a legal/social perspective, Hernando de Soto, The Mystery of Capital. Together, these three books provide a fairly complete answer to the question.

Philosophically weak:
Philosophically speaking, this is weak on argument and analysis and high on invective. Its author is a specialist in history, or rather the use of history for political ends during the Cold War. He served on a far right wing CIA advisory panel. This book is good at showing the theoretical impoverishment of the ideology of this cold warriors.

Good Book to Get Ideas From:
I found this to be a thought-provoking book that helped me strengthen my own understanding between the connection between ownership and use of one's own property and the freedom that entails. I am a lay reader coming to this subject, so this was more to create ideas on my part than anything else. Because of my lack of expertise, I would just like to say it is well worth reading.

5/5 on the history, 2/5 on the politics:
Pipes presents a very convincing and thoughtful historical analysis of the relationship between the development of property rights and freedom. His surveys (the first few chapters) of the role of property and property rights and law in various historical groups are fascinating, and his case studies of England and Russia are excellent. His downfall comes in the last few chapters where historical analysis drifts into political speculation. Mr. Pipes would have done well to stick to his discipline: his attempts to relate what he considers the erosion of property rights in Western society to his main thesis are weak. They are poorly concieved (both property and freedom are already well-developed in the West - how do current events relate to their development in the past?) and constructed (they are shallow, undeveloped and full of flaws that are immediately apparent even to me, a student!) Despite this, the first 2/3rds of the book come highly recommended. Just don't take the last chapter or so too seriously - and don't let its weaknesses overshadow "Property and Freedom"'s strengths.