Synopsis
A libertarian analysis treating the state as a self-interested agent that expands its own power, questioning whether any state can stay limited.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workOnce we ask what the state would do if it acted in its own interest, we see it tends to grow its power and bend citizens toward its ends rather than merely serving them.
It applies a skeptical, agent-centered lens to government, exposing the structural drift from limited state toward self-aggrandizing power.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Political Liberalism.
Reading note
Read de Jasay as an analytic skeptic, not a polemicist; he reasons from incentives toward conclusions even minimal-state liberals find uncomfortable.
Best paired with
Political Liberalism