Martin van Staden, Author at The Hayek Council

22Apr 2026 by Martin van Staden

Pahlavi Is Iran’s Man: The “Fractured Opposition” Excuse Is Dead

Excerpt This moment is rare. I am not Reza Pahlavi fanboy – my interest is exclusively with the liberty of the people of Iran. The worry is that those with the power to effect change are selling out this prospect of freedom by gaslighting the world about how popular politics works. The people of Iran should not be betrayed because Pahlavi is not “popular enough” yet – he is plenty popular for the purposes of this endeavour. The Islamic Republic’s fractures, exposed further by the 2025-2026 strikes, leadership losses, and ongoing protests, have created a once-in-a-generation strategic opening. A free, secular Iran would be a moral triumph: the right of a people to self-determination without the boot of ideology on their necks. It would also deliver immense strategic gains for…

02Apr 2026 by Martin van Staden

Defending Roman-Dutch Law Against Ghana’s Bizarre UN Slavery Resolution

Daily Friend, Opinion

Excerpt Condemning European complicity is fair, because they were complicit. But it cannot be done non-reciprocally while ignoring the broader context. Slavery has been practiced across civilisations for millennia, including in parts of Africa and the Middle East into modern times. Estimates from the Global Slavery Index indicate millions still live in forms of modern slavery today – forced labour, forced marriage, and descent-based servitude – particularly in parts of Africa and Arab states. The condemned West is almost entirely free of slavery, while the condemning accusers still practice it at intolerable rates. What distinguishes the West is not the original sin of participation (shared by many societies), but the fact that Western civilisation, drawing on the initial Roman note on slavery’s tension with natural freedom, became the first civilisation to abolish it systematically…

26Mar 2026 by Martin van Staden

The West’s Responsibility in Iran

Daily Friend, Opinion

Excerpt The realists oppose support for uprisings before they fail (which itself then guarantees failure), and then lament the failure as solid proof against action. The “no plan” complaint only holds if we pretend the alternative – doing nothing in January – was cost-free. It was not. The regime had already demonstrated its willingness to slaughter its way to survival. By refusing even limited support then, the West ensured the very (overstated) “vacuum” it now decries. Ethically, the bloc now has to make the best of a bad situation rather than pretend its hands are clean. Read in the Daily Friend.

16Nov 2025 by Martin van Staden

Globalism and Limited Government – Contrary or Complementary?: A New Agenda for a Neo(Libertarian) World Order

Palgrave Macmillan, Paper

Abstract This chapter challenges the prevailing libertarian hostility toward political globalism and a potential world-spanning polity. Martin van Staden argues that such a polity is likely inevitable due to historical trends of political consolidation, intensifying globalisation, and the growing authority of international institutions. Rather than reflexively opposing it through boycott or denial - which could prove counterproductive - libertarians should engage constructively to shape its constitutional design in a freedom-enhancing direction. The paper distinguishes globalisation (economic and cultural interconnectedness, generally positive) from globalism (political integration via supranational institutions). It critiques the paleolibertarian preference for multiple sovereign nation-states as a form of decentralisation, arguing that this confuses “estate” (private property) with “State” and often fails to limit power or provide genuine exit options. Sovereign states do not inherently check one another…

08Dec 2024 by Martin van Staden

Individual Liberty and the Responsibility to Protect: Toward a Neolibertarian Foreign Policy

Palgrave Macmillan, Paper

Abstract This paper develops a distinctly libertarian, or “neolibertarian,” approach to foreign policy grounded in the principle that the State’s core responsibility is to protect individual liberty and self-ownership - the Responsibility to Protect Liberty (R2PL). Martin van Staden argues that libertarianism, being cosmopolitan and focused on the abstract Individual rather than particular nationalities or cultures, must apply its universal principles consistently to international affairs, not merely domestic ones. Drawing on the contemporary international norm of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), which holds that states forfeiting their duty to shield populations from mass atrocities lose legitimate sovereignty, the author formulates R2PL as its libertarian counterpart. Governments exist to secure unalienable rights to life, liberty, and property. When a state fails this duty - or actively violates it - other states,…

05May 2023 by Martin van Staden

A Federation for Southern Africa?

Isonomia Quarterly, Paper

Abstract This paper evaluates whether uniting the states of Southern Africa into a federal union would better protect individuals’ freedom of action and private property - the core purpose of government - than the prevailing system of separate sovereign nation-states. Martin van Staden argues that true federalism, unlike mere sovereignty or unitary centralisation, diffuses power by creating multiple constitutionally entrenched centres of authority that check and balance one another, spreading risk and making total elite capture far more difficult. Separate sovereign states do not constrain one another’s abuses; each remains a centralised point of failure for its subjects. In contrast, federal unification brings more people under a single constitutional framework of internal checks, advancing genuine decentralisation. Southern Africa’s history - including South Africa’s federalist tradition, the failed Central African Federation,…

21Sep 2022 by Martin van Staden

To Tyrants the Answer is “No”: Conceptualizing a Confident, Muscular, and Cosmopolitan Libertarianism

Comos + Taxis, Paper

Abstract This paper critiques the growing tendency among some libertarians, particularly those influenced by national-conservatism, to treat individual liberty and property rights as culturally contingent "Western" values unsuitable for export beyond the West. The authors argue that libertarianism is inherently cosmopolitan: it posits universal, inalienable rights of self-ownership and property that apply to all individuals regardless of nationality, culture, or tradition. Drawing on FA Hayek, the paper rejects the nation-state's claim to collective "self-determination" through majoritarian legislation, favouring instead universal rules of just conduct (cosmos) over particularistic commands (taxis). National-conservative critiques - that libertarianism undermines tradition, community, and non-Western values - are countered by showing that libertarian principles accommodate voluntary associations, intermediary institutions, and cultural diversity, while requiring only that no group impose its vision on others. The authors advocate…

Author: Martin van Staden