Classical Liberalism and International Economic Order

Classical liberalism has frequently been applied to 'domestic' political economy. This book is innovative in as much as it links classical liberalism to questions of international economic order. The author begins with an outline of classical liberalism as applied to domestic economic order. He then surveys the classical liberal tradition from the Scottish Enlightenment to modern thinkers like Knight, Hayek and Viner. Finally, he brings together the insights of thinkers in this tradition to provide a synthetic overview of classical liberalism and international economic order. The author's deployment of classical liberalism strikes a different note to other 'liberal' interpretations in economics and political science. In particular, classical liberalism points to the domestic preconditions of international order, and advocates unilateral liberalisation in the context of an institutional competition between states. This unusual work of modern theory, intellectual history and international political economy offers new perspectives from economic theorists, political scientists and historians of economic and political thought.