CRISISBOOM

It went from being just another country to a world power in just a few decades. The world’s leading manufacturer, it was also one of the great traders. It boded well for peace and stability, some said. The extensive trade ties and business connections reduced the likelihood of future war to all but nil.

Until the first shot was fired.

In 1914, the German Empire declared war on two of its largest trading partners: France and Britain. The first modern age of globalization gave way to global war, followed by a global pandemic, a global depression and, finally, another world war.

The lesson? It takes more than a robust economy to make a peaceful nation.

Today, China’s economic rise ought to be cold comfort for those laboring to keep Washington and Beijing off a collision course.

A few weeks ago my fellow Examiner columnist, the Cato Institute’s Gene Healy, highlighted the work of political scientist Erik Gartzke, the university professor who “found that the statistical correlation between economic freedom and peace is vastly greater than the relationship between representative government and peace.”

In other words, Gartzke suggests the more economic freedom the less the Read more…