Although classical liberal ideas are at present in the ascendancy, there is no guarantee that they will succeed in the long run in substantially reducing the size and power of the state.

In this Occasional Paper, Professor Antonio Martino shows that while statism is intellectually bankrupt, special interests are still actively and successfully lobbying for state protection from competition. In addition, liberals have produced no agreed program for dismantling the structures of big government or for replacing them with new constitutional arrangements that could keep government small. On the other hand, new policy ideas usually take decades to work their way into routine practice, and in the meantime the financial constraints on the state makes it virtually inconceivable that it will continue to grow.