Commanding Heights: A War of Economic Concepts
Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw's Commanding Heights is largely a war of economic concepts. In the globalization era, this struggle of ideas was between the free market and various government controls. The process of shifting from one ideology to the next was fraught with difficulties, prompting some governments to focus solely on controlling the primary economic pillars known as the "commanding heights," hence the title of the book. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is credited with the title of this book because he was the first to cite the commanding heights in his 1922 referring to regulation of the economy’s primary sector. The authors surveyed the economic changes that arose when the markets shifted from being state-controlled to the free market. The shift was caused by globalization and the collapse of the Soviet Union. This book seeks to answer why there was a market move. The authors also wanted to respond why and how the idea of privatization, competition, openness, and deregulation has been adopted by the governments which previously wanted to seize and control their economies. To understand this scenario, the authors went further to clarify whether the change is reversible in case it fails. They also covered the social, political and economic consequences and prospects of the shift in a government-market relationship (Yergin and Stanislaw x).
The Study Methodology and Analysis
The authors have widely used interviewing as the study methodology. The study incorporates some prominent personnel and uses historical data for its analysis. Notable interviewees are Yegor Gaidar of the Soviet Union, Lawrence Summer and Albert Fujimori of Peru. Keith Joseph and Margeret Thatcher are also featured in this work and their ideas well featured. The history used is incorporated into the current events making it present. For instance, the author tells of the world history since the World War II. The authors have managed to prove the importance of revolutionary change from the government-controlled economy to the competitive market. The commercial experience discussed is the failure of the government planned economy to the competitive one. Historical survey of how various states and individuals came to believe that the government-controlled economy has failed has been thoroughly pursued by the authors. Explanation of this is later derived from the communist revolution, the challenges of world war II and the Great Depression where Laisez Faire System failed. The book is highly comparative as it compares the economic success of different regions such as Australia, United States, Europe among other nations. It further analyzes different economic ideas such as capitalism and communism to provide a detailed analysis. Archival resources are used to provide statistical evidence of various performances as the authors were not the real observers of what was happening I various continents and at different times. The sources are not too limiting as the authors interviewed different individuals who they perceived to be resourceful. It is evident that interviews provide the primary data that is very reliable and where it contrasts with the existing information clarification is sought. The authors are very useful in their data collection and analysis as they utilize different data collection and analysis technique. The book could have been better if the authors provided a theoretical rigor, overall presentation of the intellectual history of visual diagrams and opponents of the free market’s values and priorities. It could have been better if they also provided the measures of making the government-controlled economy more productive to target those who were objective to change. The previous economic though could have been better too but I tend to think that it was not followed as it was supposed and therefore it ended up failing. The authors could have avoided looking at it as a failed error but instead, clarify the possible causes of its failure. I think the study could have been more effective if other issues such as gender, race, religion, and classes were factored in this study. I believe that some of these factors impact the implementation of these economic ideas. For instance, different religions react differently to practices and beliefs of communism and capitalism among other economic thought.
The Presentation of Ideas
The problem covered in this book has been presented in diverse ways. It has been proved through statistical data from the performance of different economic thoughts. The ideas of different prominent persons have been captured with their flaws and advantages. The process of change has been noted including the challenges that have been well presented. Historical data has been used in the context of the present occurrences. The authors have presented the book in a manner that portrays them to be optimistic that the market will remain to be the driving force of the world’s economy. They antagonize with the previous ideas and prove that the price controlled market will prevail over the political decision-making. The authors, therefore, use some judgmental or disapproving comments in this work. The author has been influenced by different prominent persons such as Margeret Thatcher, Lawrence Summer, Albert Fujimori of Peru and Keith Joseph. These people’s ideas have been used in publishing this book. The author was also influenced by other disciplines such as history where he studied historical occurrences and statistics where he observed statistical data presented to come up with possible trends. However, this approach does not include some useful ideas such as racial analysis, class and gender issues. Partially, these ideas are missing because the study is generalized and assumed that the impacts of the economic shift of ideas cause similar impact to the various forms of diversities. The exception to their point of view is the ideal boundary between the market and the government control. In as much as the shift from the government control to the free market is beneficial, a regulation of the two’s relationship is required to avoid conflicts and ensure prosperity.
The Conclusion - Embracing the Free Market
The authors are more inclined to the free market system as compared to the government controlled. Their solution is implied from the previous performances as compared to the earlier performances of the two ideologies rather than explicit. I strongly agree with this conclusion as I also support capitalism. The later supports globalization that has been observed due to improved transportation and communication technologies. For instance, a government-controlled system cannot compete well on a global scale hence leading to failure. Most countries are already shifted from communalist to the capitalist ideology. Capitalist nations can easily relate well to other capitalist countries as compared to communalist nations due to policy similarities. The free market is associated with competitiveness and openness. Competitiveness leads to production efficiency and reduced products’ prices. This translates to a reduced cost of living which is better for all. With the recommended approach, individual productivity is realized where everyone works to meet his own needs. Therefore, infrastructural development is realized from investment and entrepreneurship advancement. There are more employment opportunities from the private and government sectors which improves the resources flow. Also, the burden of offering free services is transferred from the government to the individuals, which increases the efficiency of those services dedicated to the government such as health and education. The free market is characterized by efficient utilization of resources. In a government controlled, it is challenging to attain utilization of resources. Where it is attained, a lot of resources are directed to supervisory mechanisms such as recruitment of reinforcement such as the police to ensure that people are accomplishing what is expected of them. Capitalism also reduces the effectiveness of ill-intentioned governments. In most cases, those governments that practiced communalism were dictatorial and intended to remain in power while not serving its people to the standard. With the above reasons, I fully agree with the authors’ conclusion and support the change of economic ideas presented.
Work cited
Yergin, Daniel and Joseph Stanislaw. Commanding Heights. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.
