Ordered Anarchy: Jasay and his Surroundings

Anthony de Jasay's work has been enormously influential, describing both a theoretical philosophical model for a stateless, liberal, free market order and offering analysis of and solutions to many of the technical economic problems associated with such a vision of society - most notably his work on the free rider and his return. In this book ten significant scholars in philosophy and political economy, including Nobel laureate in economics James Buchanan, pay tribute to the man and his work in a series of essays at once both respectful and critical. Ordered Anarchy focuses on three fundamental questions of libertarian thinking. Which are the basic libertarian principles and how do rights and liberties relate to each other? Is order possible and durable in an anarchic or quasi-anarchic society, and if so, under which preconditions? How and to what extent are the pillars of politics, such as the constitution, institutions and government, detrimental or beneficial to an enduring free society? While Narveson, Palmer and Bouillon focus on the first of these questions, the late Radnitzky and van Dun address the second. Benson, Holcombe and Kliemt provide answers to question number three, while Buchanan and Little highlight the role of Anthony de Jasay in this debate and the inspiration that his thinking has given to the authors of this volume.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Part I Introduction: Introducing Tony de Jasay, James Buchanan. Part II Principles of Ordered Anarchy: Rights, liberties and obligations, Hardy Bouillon; Anthony de Jasay on liberties and rights, Jan Narveson; No exit: framing the problem of justice, Tom G. Palmer. Part III Ways to Ordered Anarchy: Concepts of order, Frank van Dun; Against politics, for 'ordered anarchy', Gerard Radnitzky. Part IV Limits of Politics: Beliefs as institution-specific rationalized self interest, Bruce L. Benson; Why government?, Randall G. Holcombe; Constitutional optimism and skepticism in Buchanan and Jasay, Hartmut Kliemt. Part V Conclusion: Anthony de Jasay – a salute, I.M.D. Little; Indexes.

About the Author :
Hardy Bouillon is Head of Academic Affairs at the Centre for the New Europe, Belgium. Hartmut Kliemt is Professor of Philosophy and Economics at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Frankfurt, Germany. James Buchanan, Hardy Bouillon, Jan Narveson, Tom G. Palmer, Frank van Dun, Gerard Radnitzky, Bruce L. Benson, Randall G. Holcombe, Hartmut Kliemt, I.M.D. Little.

Review :
To those working in patient safety, it is maddening that the results of root cause analyses always seem to be, "It's a communications problem". Nemeth and his colleagues show us why that is probably true, although not in the traditional sense of transmission of information. Rather, with abundant examples from both aviation and healthcare, they show that communication is about context, perception, relationships, and culture - aspects of healthcare that are far more complicated, messy, and dysfunctional than aviation ever was. Here a cluster of the world's experts extract lessons from both domains that those who seek to improve patient safety will find fascinating and useful.'Lucian L. Leape, MD, Harvard School of Public Health, USA'For too long, healthcare has focused on technical skills rather than teamwork skills; we are suffering for that. Far too many people suffer preventable harm and excess costs of care; failures in communication and teamwork underlie much of this suffering. Improving Healthcare Team Communication holds the promise to change this. The book is written by international experts, informed by a strong scientific background, and provides practical tools to improve communicaton. It should be required reading for those seeking to improve patient safety.'Peter J. Pronovost, The Johns Hopkins University, USA 'Problems with and failures of communication are amongst the most important and frequently cited factors contributing to healthcare-associated harm. A comprehensive multi-disciplinary review is overdue and this book is a "must" for all with an interest in human factors in healthcare and for those who wish to learn about how people communicate in other domains.' Bill Runciman, University of Adelaide, and Australian Patient Safety Foundation.Australia