archive

Liberalism in theory and practice

Hannes Bajohr (ZfL Berlin): The Sources of Liberal Normativity. Sean Phelan (Massey) and Simon Dawes (UVSQ): Liberalism and Neoliberalism. Michael A. Wilkinson (LSE): Authoritarian Liberalism as Authoritarian Constitutionalism. Michael K. Connors (Nottingham): Liberalism Against the People: Learning to Live with Coups D’Etat. Slavery-entangled philosophy: John Locke took part in administering the slave-owning colonies — does that make him, and liberalism itself, hypocritical? Amanda Fugandkiss on why the idea of “Classical Liberalism” is a myth and not supported by any rigorous historical survey, and why John Locke's status as the “father of Liberalism” should be reevaluated.

What cafes did for liberalism: They were essential social institutions of political modernity — caffeinated pathways out of clan society and into a cosmopolitan world. The many lives of liberalism: David A. Bell reviews Can Democracy Work?: A Short History of a Radical Idea, from Ancient Athens to Our World by James Miller; The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century by Helena Rosenblatt (and more); and On the Spirit of Rights by Dan Edelstein. Liberalism in theory and practice: Contemporary liberals are temperamentally conservative — and what they want to conserve is a morally bankrupt political order.

From Commonweal, has liberalism failed? An exchange. How liberalism failed: Sheri Berman reviews The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich Themselves, Slow Down Growth, and Increase Inequality by Brink Lindsey and Steven M. Teles; Go Back to Where You Came From: The Backlash Against Immigration and the Fate of Western Democracy by Sasha Polakow-Suransky; and Counter-Revolution: Liberal Europe in Retreat by Jan Zielonka. Liberals need to fight for their values again: Formerly tough underdogs, liberals need to rekindle a fighting spirit.