Peter L. Berger Quotes

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.

Let me say again that the relationship is asymmetrical: there's no democracy without a market economy, but you can have a market economy without democracy.

Market forces and capitalism by themselves aren't sufficient to ensure the common good and to limit the concentration of wealth at levels that are compatible with democratic ideals.

Political reform need not go hand in hand with economic liberalization. I do not believe that if you are libertarian, full of diverse opinions, full of competing ideas in the market place, full of sound and fury, therefore you will succeed.

As China grows economically, in its wake you will see a greater degree of political liberalization, a greater confidence in embracing the democratic principles …

The idea that political freedom can be preserved in the absence of economic freedom, and vice versa, is an illusion. Political freedom is the corollary of economic freedom.

When the forces of liberalism and capitalism converge, change happens.

Democratization is not democracy; it is a slogan for the temporary liberalization handed down from an autocrat. Glasnost is not free speech; only free speech, constitutionally guaranteed, is free speech.

A free economy is as essential to society as democratic political institutions. A strong market-based economy is the fertile ground for democratic freedoms that we think are important.

The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny.

So I think one can say on empirical grounds - not because of some philosophical principle - that you can't have democracy unless you have a market economy.

Reformist kings can save their dynasties now by helping their countries move smoothly into democracy, or they will end their years in exile like the Russian aristocrats of a century earlier.

The readings of Soviet society are as many as the experts you speak to. In my view, it's a society that is overdue for measures of democratization and organization.

We have established a new basis in our country in which economic liberalization would continue to flourish alongside democratic forces and deregulated power structure.

The biggest lie of all is that capitalism is democracy. We have no way of understanding democracy outside of the market, just as we have no understanding of how to understand freedom outside of market values.

Some people think that as the Chinese economy becomes more and more capitalistic it will inevitably become more democratic.

The only result of our present system - unless we reverse the drift - must be the gradual extension of the fascist sector and the gradual disappearance of the system of free enterprise under a free representative government.

Political freedom can be inimical to economic freedom.

India has political freedom but it does not have economic freedom.

The most damning indictment of the United States in Central America is that we have allowed the sterile voices of Marxism-Leninism to claim falsely the mantle of economic justice and hope for ordinary people when it should be carried by the heirs of Thomas Jefferson.

As a class, merchants will always be opposed to the control of majorities.

No society can give people free choice in economic affairs and deny it to them in political affairs.

The price of oil and the pace of freedom always move in opposite directions. It’s the First Law of Petropolitics.

I believe in defending democracy by preserving democracy, not by descending to the use of the same weapons used in dictatorships, whether of the Nazi or Communist stripe.

Democracy and economic reform go together.