In Defence
of
Liberty
The newsletter of the Liberty Institute (internet edition)
No. 4, May 1999
In this issue
Conquest Without
Victims - Another look at Kashmir:
Unlike armed conquests, conquests by the market forces leave no
victims, only winners–peace and prosperity. Let us now give the market
a chance in Kashmir and the whole region.
Who is an
Indian? : In
a civilization that is characterised by its ability to absorb and assimilate
all, it is ironic that a debate on who is a foreigner is being sought.
This is the first of a series of articles on various issues before the
electorate in the forthcoming general elections in September 1999.
Excerpts:
The Importance of being an Indian, by Sashi
Tharoor (The Indian Express, 30 May 1999)
The Rights of Citizen Sonia, by Mushirul Hasan
(The Indian Express, 22 May 1999)
The Legacy
of Hayek: Continuing relevance of Nobel Laureaute F. A. Hayek
in the 21st Century. A centenary tribute.
War Can’t be Fought without Commitment:
Prof. Tibor R. Machan says that by confining to bombing in Yugoslavia,
the politicians are hoping to avoid the need for full military commitment.
But that commitment is lacking because there is no clear-cut justice on
the side of the military in such a fight.
A Voice from the Balkan: Ayn
Rand wrote in Global Balkanization(1977), “If a province
wants to secede from a dictatorship in order to establish a free country–it
has the right to do so. But if a local gang, ethnic or otherwise, wants
to secede in order to establish its own government controls, it does not
have the right.” Tomislav Kresmovic, a human rights activist in Serbia,
argues that the key to the solution and the only possible lasting solution
of the problem in Kosovo and the entire Balkans is the building of democratic
institutions and society.
The Market is Green:
The environmental cost of restricting the market has become obvious. Clearly
the need now is to ensure efficient allocation of environmental resources
by bringing them under the discipline of the marketplace.
Should lotteries be banned?
Rakesh Wadhwa points out the futility of efforts to ban the lotteries.
Instead he calls for privatising and deregulating the lotteries, since
the government is as inefficient in running them as it is running airlines,
trains or post offices.
Book Review: The
Commanding Heights, by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw
The tide has turned. The fortunes of statism are at an ebb. Economics
of the marketplace is gainining strength. The book is a narrative history
of this transition, writes Pramit Pal Chaudhuri in this review.
The Fountainhead
Essay Contest '99: The second all India essay contest
for high school students is now open.
We invite articles, relevant news items and announcements.
Comments, criticism and suggestions are most welcome. Please write
to
Liberty Institute
96/10 Pushp Vihar Sector I
New Delhi 110 017
E-mail: <liberty@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in>
(C) Liberty Institute, New Delhi, 1999
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