Axel Kaiser (born 4 July 1981) is a Chilean writer, lawyer, and political scientist known for his work on liberalism and free-market economics. Kaiser is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and has published articles in Forbes and other publications.[2] He is also the author of several books, including The Tyranny of Equality and The Populist Deception. A 2017 poll by La Segunda ranked him among the most admired public intellectuals in Chile.[3]
Axel Kaiser | |
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Born | |
Occupation | Author[1] |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Universidad Diego Portales (LL.B.) University of Heidelberg (LL.M. in Investments, Trade and Arbitration) University of Heidelberg (M.A. in American studies) University of Heidelberg (Ph.D. in American studies) |
Thesis | The American Philosophical Foundations of the Chilean Free Market Revolution. (2014) |
Doctoral advisor | Katja Patzel-Mattern, Martin Thunert y Detlef Junker |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Political sciences Philosophy |
School or tradition | Austrian School |
Institutions | Universidad del Desarrollo University of the Andes Adolfo Ibáñez University Stanford University |
Biography
editKaiser was born into a third-generation German-Chilean family, who emigrated to Chile in April 1939.[4] He is the son of Hans Christian Kaiser Wagner and Rosmarie Barents Haensgen, and brother of Vanessa Kaiser, scholar at the Universidad Autónoma de Chile and director of the libertarian think tank Centro de Estudios Libertarios and former councilor of Las Condes, he is also brother of Johannes Kaiser, a right-wing YouTuber, founder of the National Libertarian Party[5] and current member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile and from Leif Kaiser, chairman of the Chilean National Rifle Association.
He lived his childhood and adolescence in Villarrica with his brothers.[6][7]
While living in the Chilean capital, he completed a Bachelor of Laws at Universidad Diego Portales. He qualified as a lawyer on August 7, 2007.[8]
In 2009, Kaiser won a Fulbright Program scholarship[9] and travelled to Germany to pursue two master's degrees (Master of Arts in International Law, mention Investments, Trade and Arbitration and another in American Studies)[10][11][12] and a PhD in American Studies in Heidelberg University, with the thesis The American Philosophical Foundations of the Chilean Free Market Revolution.[13][11]
Back in Chile, he was a full professor at Universidad del Desarrollo and the Universidad de los Andes, where he taught a course on Latin American Politics.
Criticism
editWriting in El Desconcierto in 2018 pundit Rodrigo Karmy Bolton posits that Fernando Atria is Kaiser's main "intellectual enemy".[14] Karmy Bolton criticizes Kaiser's for misportraying the left as "violent, statist and populist" and equating state intervention with violence.[14] For Karmy Bolton Kaiser's view is that "either we accept neoliberalism or [we] are stupid" and portrays Kaiser as a "worshipper of the market" (Spanish: "idólatra del mercado").[14]
According to another pundit, Rodrigo Rettig, Kaiser has violated the principal premise of the social sciences —"from the particular case you can't obtain general premises"— when referring to political violence experienced by his brother in 2018. Kaiser wrote in reference to it that in Chile "grave injuries have, in practice, no punishment" while omitting the 2,500,000 CLP fine that was given to each of the two aggressors, and then stated that "in Chile, deliquency has been normalized".[15]
Kaiser has further been questioned by actress Susana Hidalgo for copyright infringement by using one of her images of the 2019–2020 Chilean protests in the promotional posters of his talks in Mexico in February 2020.[16]
Kaiser's and Gloria Álvarez's book El engaño del populismo has been lambasted by Alfredo Joignant in a 2016 televised debate with Kaiser. Joignant called the book "confuse", "harmful" and "very bad".[17][18] More specifically, Joignant criticizes it for having use of the "category of populism" that is "out of control" and that it mischaracterizes populism as a political project in its own right.[17] Joignant concludes the book "does not withstand an undergraduate academic jury".[14][17] Kaiser answered to Joignant's criticism by asking if he had actually read the book with Joignant replying "I read it in diagonal" because "the argument is too simplistic".[17]
Books
edit- El Chile que Viene (2007)
- La Fatal Ignorancia (2009)
- La Miseria del Intervencionismo (2012)
- La Tiranía de la Igualdad (2015)[19]
- El Engaño Populista junto con Gloria Álvarez (2016)
- El Papa y el Capitalismo (2018)
- La Neoinquisición (2020)
- El Economista Callejero (2021)
Novels
edit- El libro de Asgalard (Ediciones Minotauro, 2023), ISBN 9789569957260
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "La madre de todas las batallas". Libertad Digital (in Spanish). 10 March 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
- ^ Benedikter, Roland; Siepmann, Katja; Zlosilo, Miguel (2015). "The Fiscal Dimension: Greater Fairness at the Price of a Slowing Economy? The Ideological Debate Behind Bachelet's Envisaged Tax Reform". In Roland Benedikter, Katja Siepmann (ed.). Chile in Transition. Prospects and Challenges for Latin America's Forerunner of Development. Springer International Publishing. p. 137. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-17951-3. ISBN 978-3-319-17951-3.
- ^ "Académico de la FAE, Alberto Mayol, fue escogido entre los intelectuales públicos más admirados" [FAE academic, Alberto Mayol, was chosen among the most admired public intellectuals]. Facultad de Administración y Economía (in Spanish). Universidad de Santiago. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
- ^ "K | Inmigrantes Alemanes al Sur de Chile". www.genealog.cl. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
- ^ Claro, Hernán (17 September 2019). "Johannes Kaiser, el youtuber que pagó parte del polémico inserto en El Mercurio". El Dínamo. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ^ S.A.P, El Mercurio (23 November 2021). "Quién es Johannes Kaiser, el diputado electo de Republicanos que generó polémica por video sobre voto femenino". Emol (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- ^ DEBATE: Axel Kaiser Vs Eugenia Mancilla en Barometro - pinguino.com (Minute 0:53), retrieved 5 July 2023
- ^ "Poder Judicial - Transparencia. RUT 14.121.758-5". www.pjud.cl. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- ^ "FULBRIGHT-CONICYT scholarships results. June 2009" (PDF).
- ^ "Axel Kaiser". Archbridge Institute. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- ^ a b "Ph.D. - Graduates - Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA)". www.hca.uni-heidelberg.de. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- ^ "Alumni - Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA)". www.hca.uni-heidelberg.de. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- ^ Kaiser, Axel. "Doctoral Thesis" (PDF).
- ^ a b c d Karmy Bolton, Rodrigo (19 March 2018). "La tiranía de Axel Kaiser, un idólatra del mercado". El Desconcierto. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ Rettig, Rodrigo (28 November 2018). "De mal en peor: una respuesta a Axel Kaiser". El Mostrador. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ "Las críticas contra Axel Kaiser por utilizar foto ícono del estallido contraviniendo los derechos de autor". El Mostrador. 3 March 2020. Archived from the original on 4 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d El Informante, Televisión Nacional de Chile. 2016
- ^ "Alfredo Joignant noqueó a Axel Kaiser en El informante: "El libro es malo Axel, es una vergüenza"". The Clinic. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ Carlos, Rodríguez Braun (10 March 2017). "La tiranía de la igualdad. Por qué el igualitarismo es inmoral y socava el progreso de nuestra sociedad" (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 April 2020.