David Linden - An Analysis of Friedrich Hayeks The Road to Serfdom

An Analysis of

Friedrich Hayeks

The Road to Serfdom

David Linden
with
Nick Broten

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CONTENTS

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CRITICAL THINKING AND THE ROAD TO SERFDOM

Primary critical thinking skill: REASONING
Secondary critical thinking skill: EVALUATION

Friedrich Hayeks 1944 The Road to Serfdom is a classic of conservative economic argument. While undeniably a product of a specific time in global politics which saw the threat of fascism from Nazi Germany and its allies beguilingly answered by the promises of socialism Hayeks carefully constructed argument is a fine example of the importance of good reasoning in critical thinking.

Reasoning is the art of constructing good, persuasive arguments by organizing ones thoughts, supporting ones conclusions, and considering counter-arguments along the way. The Road to Serfdom illustrates all these skills in action; Hayeks argument was that, while many assumed socialism to be the answer to totalitarian, fascist regimes, the opposite was true. Socialist governments reliance on a large state, centralised control, and bureaucratic planning he insisted actually amounts to a different kind of totalitarianism.

Freedom of choice, Hayek continued, is a central requirement of individual freedom, and hence a centrally planned economy inevitably constrains freedom. Though many commentators have sought to counter Hayeks arguments, his reasoning skills won over many of the politicians who have shaped the present day, most notably Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THE ORIGINAL WORK

Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1899, Friedrich Hayek would go on to found the influential Austrian Institute of Economic Research. After teaching at the London School of Economics in the 1930s, Hayek became a British subject in 1938, the year Austria was annexed by Adolf Hitlers Germany. Hayek was concerned about how tyranny could develop out of excessive government control of economic planning. This led him to write The Road to Serfdom. Hayek would become one of the most influential political economists of the twentieth century. He died in 1992 at the age of 92.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THE ANALYSIS

David Linden is doing postgraduate work on the new right at Kings College London. He works as an editor at Svenskt Militrhistoriskt Bibliotek in Stockholm.