Revista OEconomica

Tudor Constantin BĂLAN - Cycles of Freedom: Are Our Rights Today Permanently Secured, or Are We in a Transitional Phase? The Cases of Great Britain, the United States, and Russia

Marius-Cristian PANĂ, Adela BĂLAN - Economic Freedom and Prosperity: A Comparative Analysis of Welfare Determinants at the International Level

Ana Octavia ALBU - When Accurate Forecasts Still Produce Waste: Demand Shocks and Over-Forecasting Risk in Food Retail

Adrian-Ioan DAMOC - The Persian Pivot and the Reconfiguration of Geopolitical Realism: Iran and Venezuela in Strategic Competition among the United States, China, and Russia

Emmanuel Olusegun STOBER - Coercive Diplomacy in the Gulf and the Limits of the Strike-Forward Strategy: Toward a Middle-Power Coalition for Regional Stability

Sorin-Nicolae CURCĂ - On the Informational Entropy of Economic Shock

Florin DĂNESCU - The Banking Sector as Critical Infrastructure in the Logic of Hybrid Conflict: Post-2014 Legislative Convergence in Central and Eastern Europe and the Case of Romania

Mihai LĂCĂTUŞ - GDP as a Means, Not an End: Inequality as the Missing Variable in Fiscal Policy Design – A 60-Country Analysis of Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being

Articles on Issue Theme

Tudor Constantin BĂLAN

University of Oxford

Across modern history, the evolution of individual freedoms has often appeared to follow a long-term trajectory of progress, similarly to the expansion of industrial economies and modern political institutions. Yet, much like economic development, the historical dynamics of rights and liberties have rarely been linear or irreversible. Periods of liberalization have frequently alternated with episodes of authoritarian regression, institutional fragility, and democratic backsliding, suggesting the existence of broader “cycles of freedom” comparable, at least conceptually, to economic cycles. Drawing inspiration from classical interpretations of business fluctuations developed by Schumpeter, Keynes, and neoclassical economics, the present analysis extends the cyclical perspective beyond the economic sphere to the historical development of civil and political rights. The discussion focuses on three contrasting trajectories: Great Britain, the United States, and Russia. Great Britain and the United States established liberal traditions comparatively early and benefited from stronger institutional continuity, despite recurrent tensions involving exclusion, discrimination, and temporary restrictions on rights. Russia, by contrast, reflects a persistent authoritarian legacy marked by delayed institutional modernization and repeated limitations on political participation and individual liberty. The analysis approaches freedom from two complementary perspectives: the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities and the degree of liberty granted to the majority population. Particular attention is devoted to physical liberty, occupational mobility, access to education, freedom of expression and of the press, political representation, and the protection of private property. By examining the historical evolution of these rights across different political and institutional settings, the article argues that freedom should be understood less as a permanently secured achievement and more as a fragile and cyclical process shaped by institutional resilience, elite behavior, and changing historical circumstances.

ŒCONOMICA no. 1-2/2026

Keywords: cycles of freedom, democratic backsliding, civil liberties, political rights, authoritarianism, liberalism, institutional development, Great Britain, United States, Russia

JEL: N40, N43, N44, P16, Z18

Cycles of Freedom: Are Our Rights Today Permanently Secured, or Are We in a Transitional Phase? The Cases of Great Britain, the United States, and Russia

Select Issue: