Abstract

In this paper an analysis is developed of some economic aspects of the historical context within which contemporary democracies are called upon to function. In the first section, these aspects are briefly reconstructed in light of current economic literature. In the second section, the political philosophical implications of the new economic predicament are explored: the thesis is put forward that markets, once subjected to the absolute power of monarchs, are now in turn exerting a kind of absolute power over the liberal-democratic regimes that liberated them from the absolute power of kings. Finally, in the third section, some tentative reflections on possible ways of curbing the new absolute power of disembedded financial markets are explored.