Ebook: Crisis and leviathan: critical episodes in the growth of American government

Discussing how government has continually grown in size and scope during the past century, this account demonstrates that the main reason lies in government's responses to national "crises" (real or imagined), including economic upheavals and, especially, war. The result, this book argues, is the ever-increasing government power, which endures long after each crisis has passed, impinging on both civil and economic liberties and fostering extensive corporate welfare. Offering ideological explanations for the ascension of the role of government out of a capitalist, free-market economy, it will a.;Cover; Part I. Framework; 1. The Sources of Big Government: A Critical Survey of Hypotheses; Explanations of the Growth of Government; Modernization; Public Goods; The Welfare State; Political Redistribution; Ideology; Crisis; Conclusions; 2. How much has Government Grown?: Conventional Measures and an Alternative View; Conventional Measures of the Growth of Government; The Essence of Big Government: An Alternative View; Ratchets: Conventional Measures versus Fundamentals; Conclusions; 3. On Ideology as an Analytical Concept in the Study of Political Economy; What is Ideology?