XIV. – A CONFLICT OF PRINCIPLES.

Protectionist systems, colonial systems: these are therefore just two aspects of the same theory.

Frédéric Bastiat
Economic Sophisms First Series

It is sometimes useful to be reminded that liberals being in favour of liberty and adepts of intellectual consistency, they were therefore opposed to colonisation.

It is among thoughts on liberal philosophy and its approach towards war that Bastiat reminds us of this principle. According to him, protectionism is a source of conflicts and even if, once again, my favourite quote (namely, that “if goods and services do not cross borders, soldiers will”) is not to be found in this pamphlet, the thoughts here are not far from it. 

This text is of high value to anybody interested in liberal thought from a philosophical point of view rather than from the more simple point of view of economics that is valid but more restrictive.

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