Dickinson College Public Lecture 2013

The Welfare State as a “Road to Serfdom”?

F. A. Hayek and the American Debate About Social Policies

with Professor Edward McPhail

With the recent financial crisis and the election of President Barack Obama, conservatives have been particularly active linking his administration’s policies to socialism. As anger at Obama’s social policies grows in some quarters, scholars and talk show hosts alike have said Friedrich von Hayek’s 1944 best-seller “The Road to Serfdom” warrants another look. But does it? Hayek warned that persisting with interventionist policies and welfare state practices would lead to totalitarian government. It has not. But that does not stop some from citing the book as a foundation for ominous warnings about the United States and Europe.

The lecture is part of the Dickinson College Public Lecture series, in which Dickinson scholars together with the respective department of the University of Bremen speak on current issues from a transatlantic perspective. The lecture series serves to deepen the relations between Dickinson College and the University of Bremen, which maintain a successful student exchange program, which looks back on a twenty-five year history.

The event is open to the public and there is no cover charge. You are requested to rsvp this event.

The public lecture is presented by Carl Schurz Deutsch-Amerikanischen Club and the Dickinson Program at the University of Bremen and is sponsored by Bremen United States Center, American Consulate Hamburg, University of Bremen and Sparkasse Bremen.

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Please note that this lecture is in English.

What?	»The Welfare State as a “Road to Serfdom”?«
When?	May 30th, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.
Where?	Kulturhaus Stadtwaage Langenstraße 13 28195 Bremen
How?	Please send your RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.