Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty - Institute of Economic Affairs

1 HAYEK’S INTRODUCTION
The Constitution of Liberty begins with a ‘Preface’ and ‘Introduction,’
but the first thing to strike one’s eye is the title itself.
One might infer from it that Hayek intends to depict an institutional
arrangement or framework of government that promotes
liberty; but in fact the book says little about government’s internal
structure and operations. Later Hayek would clarify the meaning
of his title: ‘I then used the term “constitution” in the wide sense
in which we use it also to describe the state of fitness of a person’
(1973: 3). Hayek is concerned with liberty’s present shape or condition
– whether it is fit or unhealthy. Believing that liberty is in
dire straits, he will diagnose the causes of its ill constitution and
prescribe a remedy that might restore its fitness.
Hayek identifies liberty closely with Western civilisation. The
principles of liberty or freedom – he uses these terms interchangeably
(see 421) – grew out of the Western experience, and the West
flourished by adhering to them. By the mid-nineteenth century,
however, the West began to lose faith in the principles of liberty;
and now it lacks firm beliefs on which to oppose threatening
ideologies. In various writings Hayek emphasises one or another
proximate danger to Western liberty – central planning, demands
for social justice, excesses of majority rule – but the ultimate
danger is this loss of faith and self-confidence. Hayek is especially
harsh in his indictment of Western intellectuals, who have long
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