Dalibor Rohac: capitalism can save the West

Are Nimbys a threat to national security? Britain’s inability to build houses and infrastructure is rightly at the heart of our domestic political debate. Dalibor Rohac thinks it needs to be seen as a geopolitical failing as well. This week on The Capitalist, Rohac, incoming director of research at Globsec, discusses his new book ‘Unshackled: How Economic Growth Can Defeat the World’s Dictators’. The conversation also covers how to defend Western institutions while still building fast, what Mancur Olson can tell us about vetocracy, whether letting China into the WTO was a mistake and why chasing foreign students out of American universities is an own goal. Rohac’s argument is that the accumulated sludge of special interests and regulatory stasis which reduces growth and stops houses and reservoirs being built has serious security implications – such as the shortfall in defence production across the alliance. Free markets can deliver in ways that more centralised systems cannot, but only if the shackles are taken off. He remains an optimist, on the grounds that free societies have a remarkable power for self-correction. But who will stand up as a new champion of the Western order? A new Reagan or Thatcher may be harder to find. Get full access to The CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co/subscribe