The article contains considerations on the historical evolution of globalization in the context of the rivalry between two basic concepts of economic system: pro-state option and pro-market option. The author assumes that globalization is a permanent feature of human aspirations. In the beginning of modern era it was interlocked with the alternating dominance of pro-market and pro-state tendencies, and it continues to appear in the same form until present times. The liberal economic thought has expressed these opposition in the state versus market formula. Over the last five centuries there have been five stages of alternating dominance of pro-market and pro-state forces, connected with globalization. First was the mercantilism with the significant role of state, and its antithesis was the XIX-century free-competition capitalism. Two last stages – the neo-liberalism dating from 1980 to 2008 and its antithesis from 2009 to 2019 – have been presented in detail. The previous stages are shown only as historical background. The analysis is preceded by the outline of a theoretical model of globalization connected with the alternating dominance of pro-state and pro-market tendencies, which can be seen as value added to the legacy of economic thought devoted to the relationship between market and state.
Roger Scruton repudiates the idea that civil liberty is a natural and unconditionally desirable state of citizenry, while subjection is something degrading and unnatural. He characterizes the conservative political system as a ‘rule by institutions’ supported by a theory of nature and a theory describing the functioning of institutions. National politics results from operations of social and political institutions which have grown out of traditional arrangements, respect raison d’État, and are governed by offices. The author argues that this is a sound interpretation of essential political arrangements, if it can solve the problem of political reconstruction after a period of decline or disintegration. As a matter of fact Scruton offers such a solution in his analysis of various forms of liberalism, one of which he seems to identify with conservatism.