Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Dughera, Stefano
Author-Email: stefano.dughera@uniupo.it 
Author-Name: Marciano,Alain 
Author-Email: alain.marciano@unito.it  
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Turin
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.est.unito.it/
Title: Buchanan and the social contract:Coordination failures and the atrophy of property rights.
Abstract: James Buchanan advocated that societies should be based on a social contract. He rejected anarchy,
seeing it as a “Hobbesian jungle” that calls for government intervention to maintain social order. He
also opposed to theories of spontaneous order. These views led to debates about the compatibility of
Buchanan’s works with classical liberalism, and even with democracy. This paper contributes to this
discussion by exploring the development of Buchanan's views on anarchy from a historical viewpoint.
We argue that Buchanan's earlier works contain a theory of spontaneous cooperation, and that
Buchanan held to this theory until the 1970s. Then, the deteriorating conditions of American society
got him convinced that albeit anarchy is theoretically desirable, cooperation requires individuals to
enter a social contract and delegate enforcement authority to political institutions. Overall, the paper
reconciles Buchanan's practical views with his philosophical inclinations, portraying him as a practical
contractarian but a philosophical anarchist.
Length: pages 24
Creation-Date: 2024-03
File-URL: https://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2024dip/wp_02_2024.pdf
File-Format: Application/PDF
Handle: RePEc:uto:dipeco:202402