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| John Stuart Mill By London Stereoscopic Company - Hulton Archive, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30913285 |
In his role as vice president of the National Institute of Clinical Research, Inc., Mark Paskewitz focuses on developing innovative pharmaceutical products. A history enthusiast, Mark Paskewitz enjoys learning about past events that shaped Europe into what it is today.
One concept with particular current resonance is that of “synchronous political waves.” This was explored by British historian Norman Stone in his seminal 1983 work Europe Transformed 1878-1919. Stone examines the decline of a 19th century Europe defined by liberalism, in which England promoted a free trade stream that brought an end to protectionist measures across Europe, as items such as passports briefly went by the wayside.
With John Stuart Mill a leading philosophical guidepost, the Victorian ideal of the 1860s was one in which government interference was kept to a minimum and people placed checks on their own actions. Unfortunately, at the apex of liberalism’s triumph, the system started to destroy itself. This was due in large part to an unexpected impact of increased economic integration: negative, as well as positive, trends that tended to impact all European nations at the same time.
This was particularly felt during the Panic of 1873, which left government revenues depleted and gave rise to calls for more activist state intervention in the world economy. Sacrificed in the resulting rivalries that emerged was free trade, as high-tariff policies were instituted that insulated domestic workers from competition and sowed the seeds of discord between nations that erupted in two world wars.
