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Jacob Bielfeld’s “On the Decline of States” (1760) and Its Relevance for Today

In: Great Nations at Peril

Author

Listed:
  • Erik S. Reinert

    (Tallinn University of Technology
    The Other Canon Foundation)

Abstract

The idea of economic decline has been with us for a very long time. The notion that human societies are bound to follow the cyclical patterns of nature—birth, life, decline, and death—is found from the Greek philosophy of Plato to the Arab philosophy of Ibn-Khaldun. Only late Renaissance and Enlightenment Entzauberung—demystification—of the world picture view freed mankind from the cyclical vicissitudes of the blindfolded goddess Fortuna and opened up for rational economic policy to prevent booms and bust. During the last century, the theory of decline in the West manifested itself in German Kulturpessimismus with Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West (1918), in the USA with Paul Kennedy’s The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987), but also as harsh reality in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik S. Reinert, 2015. "Jacob Bielfeld’s “On the Decline of States” (1760) and Its Relevance for Today," The European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences, in: Jürgen Backhaus (ed.), Great Nations at Peril, edition 127, chapter 8, pages 133-172, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:euhchp:978-3-319-10055-5_8
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-10055-5_8
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