The fatal conceit of foreign intervention

Abstract

The fatal conceit is the assumption that the world can be shaped according to human desires. This chapter argues that the logic of the fatal conceit can be applied to foreign interventions which go beyond the limits of what can be rationally constructed by reason alone. In suffering from the fatal conceit, these interventions are characterized by: (1) the realization that intentions do not equal results, (2) a reliance on top-down planning, (3) the view of development as a technological issue, (4) a reliance on bureaucracy over markets, and (5) the primacy of collectivism over individualism. These characteristics explain why interventions extending beyond the limits of what can be rationally constructed tend to fail.

Citation

Coyne, C.J. and Mathers, R.L. (2010), "The fatal conceit of foreign intervention", Koppl, R., Horwitz, S. and Desrochers, P. (Ed.) What is so Austrian about Austrian Economics? (Advances in Austrian Economics, Vol. 14), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 225-250. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-2134(2010)0000014014

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