As part of the University of Toronto’s Munk Center Distinguished Lecture Series, Peter A. Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies, delivered an engaging talk titled “Capitalism and Democracy: Does One Dominate the Other?” in January.
Hall is a political economist and a resident faculty member of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard. His current research centers on understanding how the growth regimes of developed democracies change over time, and the role of politics in that process, including the political dilemmas created by the Euro crisis.
His talk delved into the dynamic interplay between capitalism and democracy, focusing on how political economies have shifted since World War II. Based on the experience of the initial postwar period, the lecture argued that these changes depend on the presence of three conditions, which provide motivation, means, and motor for change. The motivation follows from an experience of crisis, the means from developments in economic ideas and the motor lies in electoral politics.
Thus, the process of change is one in which economic developments within capitalism and political developments within democracy combine to yield major changes in the stance that governments take toward the economy.
The Munk School Distinguished Lecture Series is a signature speaker series for the Munk School with experts sharing their expertise in global affairs and public policy.