Two There Are That Rule the World: Private Power and Political Authority
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INTRODUCTION
TwO THERE ARE THAT RULE THE
WORLD: PRIVATE POWER AND
POLITICAL AUTHORITY
DR. CHARLES J. REID, JR.*
I. INTRODUCTION
In Brian Tierney's felicitous translation, Pope Gelasius I is recorded as
saying Two there are ... by which this world is chiefly ruled.' When the
Pope thus addressed Emperor Anastasius at the end of the fifth century, he
was stating his belief that the world was governed respectively by the sa-
cred authority . . . of the priesthood and the royal power. Pope Gelasius'
world vanished long ago. But it is fair to say that the governance of today's
world remains divided between two great sources of power and authority:
the private power of vast sums of wealth; and the political authority of
governments. Indeed, it is increasingly the case that in many circumstances
it is private power that exerts control over governmental authority.
An early example of this phenomenon was seen in the Asian Financial
Crisis of 1997, which began with a run on the Thai Baht - the currency of
Thailand - triggered by its abrupt devaluation. The crisis led to the near-
bankruptcy of the Thai State, and it quickly became the received wisdom
that [t]he lesson to be drawn from the crisis is that financial markets will
eventually punish economic activity that violates or ignores liberal eco-
nomic principles.2 Thailand's economy was left in shambles and the nation
was forced to respond by changing its governmental policies, which in-
cluded a balance[d] . . . budget, an end [to] subsidies to state companies
and utilities, and the adoption of other stringent conditions.3
Which was more powerful? The trappings of sovereign statehood?
Sovereign power once included control over one's monetary and fiscal re-
* Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas (MN).
1. BRIAN TIERNEY, THE CRISIS OF CHURCH AND STATE, 1050-1300, at 13 (Prentice-Hall,
1964) (Letter of Pope Gelasius I to Emperor Anastasius, 494 CE).
2. Robert O'Brien & Marc Williams, Global Political Economy 5 (6th ed. 2020).
3. Thais Agree to Raise Taxes and Shake Up Finance, N.Y. TIMES (Aug. 6, 1997), https://
www.nytimes.com/1997/08/06/business/thais-agree-to-raise-taxes-and-shake-up-finance.html.
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Two There Are That Rule the World: Private Power and Political Authority
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